That question is heading to the Representative Town Meeting at 8 p.m. July 24 in Osborn Hill School.

The retirement policy for police officers, firefighters and other town employees forbids them from working for the town and collecting a pension at the same time.

But at least five former town employees are doing just that, though their jobs pay $9 to $15 an hour, according to First Selectman Kenneth Flatto and Mary Carroll-Mirylees, the town's new human resources director.

The town's Police and Fire Retirement Board recently voted to change the policy, but the change also requires approval from the RTM.

"It was something that had fallen between the cracks for years, and it's an effort to make sure it's done the right way," Carroll-Mirylees said. "We want to make sure it is consistent for everyone and it is properly done."

The proposed policy would allow a retired police officer or firefighter to work for the town and collect a pension at the same time if he or she works fewer than 988 hours a year.

That number of hours translates to 24 40-hour weeks.

Retired town employees who are back on the town payroll include former Firefighter Bill Boroskey, former fire Capts. George Gomperts and Harry Ackley, Jack Sullivan, a former parks supervisor, and William Duff, according to Carroll-Mirylees and Flatto.

"To our knowledge and belief, there are five," Flatto said.

The jobs they work include special police officer, fire training instructor, starter at the golf course and seasonal crossing guard, Flatto and Carroll-Mirylees said.

Boroskey, Gomperts and Ackley started their post-retirement jobs within the past two years, while Duff started work as a crossing guard in 1998, Carroll-Mirylees said. Sullivan has worked as a special police officer for more than 10 years, Flatto said.

Several town officials said they didn't know in which department Duff had worked as a full-time town employee, and Duff couldn't be reached Friday afternoon.

Flatto spoke in favor of the policy change earlier this week to the Board of Finance, saying it would be used only for part-time jobs and would be "just a technical change in language."

Finance board members did not ask who was working for the town, how much money they are paid or how long they had been on the town's payroll. The board decided not to advise the RTM on what to do.

The policy change wouldn't allow retired employees who return to work for the town to collect larger pensions because of post-retirement work.