Charleston City Council voted Monday to allocate a portion of leftover money from the last fiscal year to help fund police and fire pensions.
After learning earlier this year that the unfunded liability for uniformed police and fire employees hired before June 1, 2011 had increased by $40 million from the previous year, the city went into crisis mode, Finance Director Joe Estep said.
The Gazette-Mail reported on the increase last month when an actuarial study prepared by Gabriel, Roeder, Smith and Company estimated the plan's shortfall jumped from $277 million to $318 million.
When city administrators began to close out the books for the previous fiscal year's budget, however, it became clear that enough money was left over to help supplement the city's contribution to the pension plans.
In a budget amendment that Council passed Monday, $457,253 was allocated to the Charleston Police Department for pensions, and $384,533 was transferred to the Fire Department for employee pensions.
"We're fortunate that we had money to reallocate, because we basically manage very conservatively throughout the year in terms of how we budget, our pay scales, and that type of thing," City Manager David Molgaard said Monday evening.
A major reason for the jump in unfunded liability is because the company that prepared the actuarial study used updated information to gauge employee life expectancy. That data table hadn't been updated since 1994, Estep said.
Because life expectancy is higher now than it was 20 years ago, it can be assumed the number of people receiving retirement benefits exceeds the number of those contributing to the plan, causing the estimated shortfall to increase.
Also on Monday, Dr. Michael Brumage, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, gave an update to City Council's Finance Committee on the progress of the county's harm reduction program.
The program provides clean needles to drug addicts who bring in their used needles for safe disposal, Brumage said, but that is just one aspect of the program.
Since the program began in December 2015, it has provided services to more than 1,200 people, Brumage said. They see about 20 new patients every week.
"That returned needle is currency for them, for which they get new needles," Brumage explained. "Our patients tell us that they've actually seen the number of needles disappear from public spaces, because they pick them up and bring them in to use them for currency."
On Monday evening, Jim Strawn presented this year's Live on the Levee 50-50 raffle contributions to five local charities.
Covenant House, Manna Meal, the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal, Roark Sullivan Lifeway Center and the YWCA each received a check for $1,528.
Also on Monday, Council voted to:
n Authorize filing civil action for the right of entry and condemnation of property needed for the Charleston Sanitary Board to complete the Emerald Heights Sanitary Sewer Pump Station improvement project.
n Submit a grant application to FEMA for their assistance to the Firefighter's Grant Program for $76,500 to purchase 50 sets of bunker gear.
n Authorize a change order for the design-build contract with BBL Carlton for the Civic Center renovation project in the amount of $54,595 to provide for additions to the base contract.
n Authorize a contract with Delta Dental for the city's dental insurance from Jan. 1, 2017 until Dec. 31, 2019.
n Approve a proposal submitted by A.V. Lauttamus Communications in the amount of $40,264 to purchase radios and accessories for the Charleston Police Department.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.