(a)     Employee health care plan. The city shall pay into the employee benefit fund four hundred twenty-two dollars and thirty cents ($422.30) three hundred eighty-nine dollars and eighteen cents ($389.18) per month for the cost of medical employee health care plan coverage , and thirty three dollars and twelve cents ($33.12) per month for the cost of employee dental plan coverage, for of each eligible permanent employee who participates in the plan. The city shall pay a portion of dependent care coverage for those eligible permanent employees who elect to purchase dependent health plan coverage under the city plan, subject to the following maximum amounts:

    Employee + Spouse    $ 107.18 99.68

    Employee + Child(ren)     71.07 66.10

    Employee + Family     258.46 240.37

These payments by the city shall begin when the employee becomes an eligible employee under the health care plan and end at the date of the employee's termination of employment with the city. Employees choosing not to participate in the health care plan  or dental plan or both  shall not be entitled to receive the amount the city would have contributed toward the cost of such employees' health care plan and dental plan coverage.

    (c)      Retirement systems. All permanent employees, except employees hired as full-time, regular firefighters or railroad operations employees are required to participate in the Federal Social Security System immediately upon appointment to city employment. All employees, except full-time regular firefighters ,  full-time regular police officers, and railroad operations employees, working one thousand five hundred (1,500) hours or more in a calendar year shall participate in the Missouri Local Government Retirement System (LAGERS). Participation in LAGERS for eligible employees begins following completion of the first six (6) months of city employment. Full-time regular firefighters and full-time regular police officers participate in the retirement plans set out in Chapter 18 of this code.   Railroad operations employees are covered by the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974.

    (3)    The city shall contribute to the deferred compensation plan account selected by each employee covered by the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 an amount equal to nine and eight tenths (9.8)  per cent of the employee's total compensation.

    (e)      Money purchase plans. Permanent employees may, at their option, participate in the City of Columbia, Missouri Money Purchase Plan, a defined contribution plan operating under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Subject to the provisions of the plan and the limitations imposed by Section 401(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the city will contribute to the plan trust fund on behalf of each participating employee who contributes to a group deferred compensation plan (457 plan) at the minimum rate of two dollars ($2.00) per pay period, an amount equal to the employee's contribution to the 457 plan up to a maximum of two (2) per cent of the employee's compensation.