It's a contract whether written or verbal - and the city was responsible for what it agreed to do - to provide medical insurance for retirees until age 65.
When you're on a fixed retirement income, having to suddenly to pay for insurance takes a chunk.
One of the primary purposes of the collective bargaining agreement was to provide for the medical needs of an employee after retirement.
The city has the option to appeal, of course.
As we understood it, some time ago the city indicated the reason they were dropping this benefit is that they thought they were violating a state law by offering the insurance coverage to medically retired employees, but apparently the federal magistrate saw it differently.
