WAUSAU, Wis (WSAU) The Wausau City Council will finalize the city budget and tax rate tonight.

The spending plan already cuts expenses by $2-million, and raises taxes about 2-percent. The city is still hoping for more concessions from their unions in advance of tonight’s meeting. So far only the firefighters union has agreed to forego pay raises in 2010.

Council member Deb Hadley would like to see the cost structures of future union contracts changed. She proposed at last night’s Finance Committee meeting that the union’s contributions to health care premiums be increased to 15-to-20 percent in future contracts. Unions currently contribute 10-percent. Hadley also favored early retirement incentives for higher-paid city workers.

Council member Matt Keiser says the city should consider medical savings accounts in future union contracts as a way a controlling costs.

Tonight’s council meeting begins at 7pm.