ISHPEMING, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Ishpeming City Council met this evening for a special session.
The council held its session at City Hall, taking up several items including a request from the Ishpeming Housing Commission to be added to the city’s exemption from Michigan’s Public Act 152 – which governs how much employees contribute toward health insurance premiums. The council also approved signing on to an MDOT transportation contract.
City Manager Randy Scholz explained the stakes behind the housing commission request. “If you don’t do the exemption then our employees have to pay 20%, the municipalities can exempt that, so our employees don’t have to pay that much, and if you saw tonight, their (Ishpeming Housing Commission) employees are paying about 13% toward their premiums,” says Scholz. “The Housing Commission wants to be added to us because they’re not allowed to do it, so the big question of tonight is: is the Housing Commission enough of a city to be included in that exemption.”
The proposed city budget discussion has been moved to tomorrow night’s meeting.
