Springfield City Council heard first reading on a proposal Monday night to move recent and new hires in the Police and Fire departments to the state retirement system.
The proposal would move all Tier II employees - those hired to the Police or Fire departments after June 1, 2006 - along with any new hires to the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System, or LAGERS.
Since the city cannot legally make changes to already-promised benefits for the Police and Fire employees, the plan would require Tier II employees to voluntarily terminate employment with the city, so they can be reinstated and moved to LAGERS.
The proposal comes at the recommendation of the city's Police and Fire Pension Task Force, which comprises representatives from the city manager's office, human resources and finance departments, the Pension Board, and the leadership of the Police and Fire unions.
City Manager Greg Burris said the proposal would move forward only if the 1-cent sales tax to fund the city's pension passes in the Feb. 3 election. That tax would take care of employees already in the pension plan, which would then be closed to new hires based on a resolution passed by council in December.
Burris noted that staff wanted to have the proposal on the agenda now so that if the tax passes, the move can be made quickly to allow the city to start new Police and Fire training classes.
Read more City Council news in SBJ's Feb. 2 issue.[[In-content Ad]]
