Budget Director: Need Health-Care Savings To Afford Pay Raises

With the city’s annual health-care costs already at $6 billion and slated to rise by another $1 billion every two years, Budget Director Dean Fuleihan spelled out publicly March 5 what other city officials had already said privately: any pay raises for the bargaining round that generally dates back to 2010 will have to be accompanied by ways of reducing what the city spends for employee and retiree coverage.

“We need to find ways to control costs while providing high-quality health care to our employees,” Mr. Fuleihan told a City Council hearing that was otherwise more devoted to pleasantries than substantive business.