ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Aldermen pushed a bill Monday to revamp portions of the city's prospective firefighter retirement plan and return benefits to future retirees -- in hopes the compromises will persuade a judge that the proposal is legal.
The changes, if passed, will allow "vested" employees -- those with more than 20 years on the job -- to keep the benefit package currently in place, with retirement cash extras and no minimum retirement age.
It also removes a cap on cost-of-living increases for firefighters who become disabled on the job.
The compromises, however, will come at a cost.
City budget officials said today that the changes add about $500,000 in annual costs to the city, not including an accounting change that would have provided an additional $2.8 million in immediate savings.
"Would we like more cost savings? Yes," said Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis Slay's chief of staff. "But the law is the law."
Slay pushed last winter for the new system, which cut some benefits for current firefighters and several benefits for those yet-to-be-hired, but could have saved the city $8.1 million a year in the short term.
Trustees of the Firemen's Retirement System of St. Louis, however, sued the city, arguing that the proposal was unconstitutional, denied firefighter's their rights, and broke a contract between employer and employee, among other things.
In September, Judge Robert Dierker ruled that the city could create the new system. However, Dierker said in his ruling, it couldn't simply merge the existing plan into the new one.
Moreover, the judge wasn't convinced the city could cut benefits promised to vested employees.
The city took his ruling as an opportunity, city attorneys said, to adjust the new law to Dierker's liking.
This summer, Alderman Fred Wessels introduced a bill to correct what he called an unfair provision in Slay's plan that capped cost-of-living increases for firefighters disabled on the job.
Wessels said Monday that he added the new provisions in conjunction with city attorneys to fix some of the problems raised by Dierker's ruling.
Plus, he said, it should make vested firefighters feel better about their coming retirement.
His plan returns three main benefits to them:
Slay's plan, as passed, increased retirement contributions to 9 percent of salaries, and removed the refund clause. Wessels' bill lets vested firefighters continue to contribute 8 percent of their salaries into their pension funds, and returns those contributions to them upon retirement.
Slay's plan eliminated the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, which pays retirement-age firefighters their pension while they work for five years. Wessels' bill reinstates it for vested employees.
Slay's plan penalized firefighters who retired before 55. Wessels' removes the minimum age requirement.
Firefighters in attendance at the City Hall hearing Monday said they were more confused than anything -- they hadn't seen Wessels' bill, and -- while it seemed favorable for some firefighters -- they weren't sure.
Wessels' bill, some said, brought city cost saving numbers much closer to those proposed by the firefighters themselves.
"Why are we going to war over that kind of a number?" asked Bruce Williams, a retired firefighter and current retirement system trustee. "That's what I don't get."
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
