ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Allentown City Council’s Human Resource Committee met Wednesday to discuss a proposed bill to amend the 2026 risk fund by transferring $6.5 million from the general fund unappropriated balance.
The transfer of the funds is needed for the payment of healthcare claims, drug prescription benefits and other employee medical costs for the remainder of the year, as well as for insurance costs.
The city is a self-insured employer.
Frank Kane, managing director, said the amounts of healthcare claims are anticipated to be significantly higher this year than previously expected.
Kane said the city has paid out over $13 million to date and expects to be hit with a large number of claims during the fall months.
Kane said the city — which has 900 employees — uses the industry standard of budgeting $30,000 per employee.
The members of the committee voted to forward the proposed bill to the next council voting meeting.
Some did, however, raise concerns about better planning and budgeting in the future.
“It concerns me when we’re looking at this, and if, year over year, it’s starting to get higher, have we evaluated it?” asked Councilmember Jeremy Binder.
Kane said the city takes a deep dive into the evaluations as a budget is prepared.
“We’re going to be talking about that in the coming budget, but I’m not really ready to talk about the details,” Kane explained. “But we’ve found some significant cost-saving measures that we’re going to be bringing to you before the 2027 budget.”
Council President Santo Napoli asked Kane to find out what other municipalities are doing.
“I’m curious how we compare to municipalities of our size, whether they’re nearby or different states,” Napoli said. “Based on what we’re seeing elsewhere, might make sense.”