DECATUR - The city of Decatur plans to impose a new contract on city workers Monday after nearly two years of unsuccessful negotiations.

City administrators say both sides are at an impasse, and the city is allowed by law to implement its "last, best offer" unless the bargaining team for AFSCME Local 268 provides a "meaningful counterproposal" before Monday.

The city for years has paid 100 percent of single health coverage for members of AFSCME Local 268, and dependent coverage ran $23 per month.

Under the new plan, employees could choose from a tiered program, which requires them to pay $40, $61 or $85 per month for single coverage and $119, $184 or $255 per month for family coverage.

Other terms of the agreement include a 5 percent pay increase, retroactive to May 2006, as well as 4 percent pay increases in 2007 and 2008, and a life insurance benefit of $20,000 per employee.

AFSCME Union Jerry W. Potts, vice president of AFSCME Local 268, said union members are extremely disappointed by the city's announcement.

"To our way of thinking, the city has not negotiated with us fairly," Potts said. "They have stuck to their position for two years and have not bent or negotiated anything, except a few small items.

"They've stuck strictly to, 'You're going to take it, you're going to like it, that's that.' "

Potts said the union gave the city a proposal in recent weeks and was waiting for a counterproposal.

"They didn't give us an offer," Potts said. "They just claimed that we didn't bargain meaningfully. What is meaningfully bargaining? They never bargained back with us."

City administrators say public tax monies are used to fund employee health insurance costs.

"I recognize that our employees are extremely hard working, and they do what they do not just for financial rewards but, more importantly, to serve the public," acting City Manager John Smith said. "A major sticking point in the negotiations has been in the area of employee contributions toward the cost of health care, and I don't think that we can responsibly ask the public to continue to foot the bill for those costs.

"In this day and age, nobody receives health care for free, although we all wish that we could," Smith said. "But the contract that is being offered is still well within the range of, if not cheaper than, what most citizens today have to pay for health insurance."

Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review.com or 421-7985.