By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–A revised retirement plan for Westport police that raises the pension payout and lowers the retirees’ share of health care premium costs for officers hired within the past nine years heads to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) on Tuesday for final approval.

The plan received near-absolute approval from three RTM committees, who met jointly on Zoom on Wednesday. 

Police Chief David Farrell said the plan will help the police department avoid problems with retention that other departments – in particular, Westport’s fire department – have experienced.

“The retention issue is coming, if not for the good work done on this contract,” he said, referring to the agreement as “a very fair contract.”

First Selectman Kevin Christie said the contract gives “public safety professionals one less thing to think about. There is so much risk inherent in their day job that they don’t want to have additional inherent risk when they’re done, when they retire.”

Tuesday’s RTM meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom.

The five-year pension agreement impacts employees hired since July 1, 2017 – about a third of the department, Farrell said. Those who predate the cutoff have their benefits preserved, which Farrell said was a “huge benefit.”

The town moved employees to a defined contribution pension plan about a decade ago to ease a financial crunch, said Christopher Hodgeson, a law partner of town attorney Ira Bloom, who was involved in negotiations for the plan.

“Due to staggering pension costs from 2010 coming into that middle of 2015-16, the town had introduced defined contribution plans for all the unions in town starting with the public works union to try to get a handle on the town’s costs,” he said.

Under the agreement, officers hired since 2017 – referred to as tier III employees – will begin to accumulate their funds at a higher rate. When they eventually retire, their annual pension will amount to 2.2% of their final average salary for their first 10 years, and 2.25% for each subsequent year, up to 32.5 years.

Those percentages represent increases from the current rate of 1.5% of the retiree’s final average salary. Also, the current pension cap of 81.25% of the final average salary will be eliminated.

A retiree will be able to continue receiving the coverage by paying 35% of the premium, down from 40% in the current plan. Upon the retiree’s death, his or her spouse can continue receiving the coverage, but must pay the full premium.

The town will not pay into the defined contribution plan for tier III employees. But it will pay each upon retirement an annual $3,000 stipend toward medical insurance for the retiree and his or her spouse and family.

“The $3,000 stipend only goes to the tier III employees to help offset their costs,” said Town Finance Director Gary Conrad. He added, “Many towns have that stipend for the family.”

The money will be paid not from the town budget, but from the pension fund built by contributions from employees and the town.

If a police officer in the defined benefit plan – before tier III – dies in the line of duty, the officer’s estate will receive a pension based on the next highest rank.

The tier III employees’ contribution will be 8.5%. For those hired before July 1, 2017, the contribution will be reduced to 9% from 10%.

The Employee Compensation and Public Protection committees approved the agreement unanimously. The Finance Committee voted 5-0, but with one member, Jill Grayson abstaining.

“The most important thing in this situation is to make sure that everybody is listening to the other side,” said Jimmy Izzo, chair of the Public Protection Committee. “The way this has worked out, I’m just so happy for the (police department) and happy for the leadership of everyone involved.”

Retirement benefits for first responders came into the spotlight during recent budget talks, when Fire Chief Nicholas Marsan requested an additional $495,000 to replace five firefighters who left the department unexpectedly over the past year with less than a year on the job.

The firefighters’ contract remains in arbitration.

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}