By John Nickerson
Staff Writer
December 18, 2005
NORWALK -- Firefighters want same pensions as police
A retirement plan granted to veteran police officers two years ago has impeded contract talks with firefighters and may need to be changed or scrapped altogether when police union negotiations begin next month.
The deferred retirement option plan -- better known by its acronym DROP -- allows police officers, ages 48 or older with at least 20 years of experience, to defer pension payments for up to five years into a tax-free retirement account while receiving a regular salary.
Firefighters are demanding the same benefit, bringing contract talks to a standstill and contributing to former Mayor Alex Knopp's election defeat last month. The DROP benefit attracted far more police officers than initially estimated and will cost Norwalk an additional $300,000 in the upcoming fiscal year, according to city Finance Director Thomas Hamilton.
"The DROP program the police department has is not a cost-neutral DROP . . . The police DROP plan is terribly expensive and needs to be modified or eliminated," Hamilton said.
It is not known how much the benefit would cost if implemented for firefighters.
Fire union spokesman Capt. Ed Prescott said the union is preparing financial figures as to how the DROP plan would play out for the fire department.
Prescott estimated four to 10 firefighters would sign onto the plan between now and July 1 if it were offered. The current unsettled fire contract is set to expire July 1.
But Hamilton said that when the police DROP plan was being negotiated, police negotiators estimated eight would sign up in the past two years. Thirty-four officers have entered or signed up for the plan.
"It is a significant budget issue because the number of people who elected to DROP in the police department has vastly outstripped the projections made when the contract was settled," Hamilton said.
The head of the police union said more officers enrolled in the plan after Knopp suggested last summer that it be eliminated in the next contract.
Hamilton said extending the benefit to police has generated higher taxes for Norwalk property owners.
Police participants in the DROP plan are receiving a 7 percent increase in their total pension benefit, which translates into higher city contributions to the police pension account.
Without the police DROP plan in place, the city would make a $1.3 million contribution to the pension fund in 2006-07 instead of a $1.6 million contribution, Hamilton said.
Prescott said the plan seems beneficial to the city because DROP participants freeze their pension benefits when they sign up.
But Hamilton said the closer to the 30-year mark that one signs up for the plan, when pension benefits automatically max out, the worse it is for the city.
Mayor Richard Moccia, who many believe owes part of his election upset to the firefighters' support of his campaign, said he had mixed feelings on the DROP plan.
"I understand it keeps officers in place longer; on the other side there is the economic consideration. . . . It places a burden on the city and taxpayer," Moccia said. "I don't want to negotiate the contract in public, but there are economic impacts that were not accounted for that we now have to look at."
Police Union President detective Marc Lepore, who will begin negotiations next month for the new contract, said this was the first he heard that the plan was costing the city extra money.
"I can't comment as to whether it is true or false. We have contract negotiations coming up and we will hire experts to confirm or dispute what they say about the plan," he said.
But because the plan tends to keep senior officers on the job longer, Lepore said the city is receiving a benefit.
"That is a good thing because there is no training in the world that beats experience," he said.
Copyright © 2005, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.