LG Council Hears Insurance Pitch; Gives Out Money
At Monday’s La Grange City Council meeting, the council heard a presentation from Brett Bowers with HUB International, a firm that specializes in managing medical benefits for public sector employees. The Council heard from a competing firm at their last meeting. The City expects to see a huge rate increase this year from its current insurance provider, the Texas Municipal League. Council will vote at the next meeting whether to hire a firm like HUB to search for lower rates and handle the City’s health insurance program.
In other business, La Grange City Council voted to allocate $28,000 in next year’s budget to five social services agencies. The amounts are as follows:
• CapitalArea Rural Transportation – $6,000
• Family Crisis Center – $5,000 • Combined Community Action – $7,000
• Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) – $4,500
• Children’s Advocacy Center – $5,500 The Council approved the full amount that each organization requested with one exception.
The Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC), which is located in Bastrop, requested $15,000 from the City to help them open a new branch office in La Grange. CAC provides therapy to child abuse victims and conducts forensic interviews used by prosecutors in child abuse cases.
City staff recommended a contribution of $5,500 to CAC, which was $500 more than the organization received the past two years. Council voted unanimously to approve the staff recommendation.
Also at Monday’s meeting, Council awarded a bid for the City’s banking services to National Bank and Trust of La Grange the next two years. NBT is the City’s current bank. NBT offered an interest rate 5.4 percent fixed with a 5.55 percent fixed APY.
The other two banks that submitted bids, Fayette Savings and Fayetteville Bank, tied their proposed rates to fluctuating benchmarks: the Texpool and Texpool Prime government investment rates. Fayetteville Bank offered a rate equal to the Texpool Prime rate plus 0.20 percent with a floor of two percent. The Texpool Prime rate averaged 3.96 percent over the past 12 months, although as of June 30 that rate stood at 5.3 percent. Fayette Savings Bank offered a rate equal to the Texpool rate, which averaged 3.75 percent over the last year and ended June at 5.05 percent.