Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: 20070518 County Benefit Administrator responds to Sheriff retirement issue

Saturday, May 19, 2007

20070518 County Benefit Administrator responds to Sheriff retirement issue

Letter to the editor from Carroll County Government Benefits Administrator Bates about Carroll County Sheriff’s retirement plans

Carroll County Government offers different plan than LEOPS.

May 18^th, 2007

To the Editor:

Fraternal Order of Police head John Shippee’s recent letter that was posted on your blog raised some important issues regarding retirement and disability plans offered to the law enforcement officers of the County Sheriff’s Office. For purposes of clarification and future discussion, here are the facts regarding the retirement and disability plan benefits currently in place for those officers:

1. Retirement Plans: Unlike other jurisdictions, all County officers are enrolled in two local retirement plans: 1) a traditional “defined benefit” pension plan that provides lifetime monthly payments after 30 years of service (or at age 62) and 2) a 401(k) Plan to which the County makes contributions of between 3% and 6% of base pay. In order to receive the maximum 401(k) Plan County contribution of 6%, an individual must contribute 4% of his base pay to the Plan.

Adding social security retirement benefits to the mix, law enforcement officers who retire from the County Sheriff’s Office have three sources of income during retirement. It is important to keep this in mind when comparing Carroll County’s retirement plan benefits to those offered by other law enforcement agencies within the state. For example, the retirement plans offered to local law enforcement officers in other areas of Maryland do not include employer contributions to 401(k) plans, and Maryland State Police Officers are not eligible to draw social security benefits based on their time with the State Police.

2. Disability Plans: County law enforcement officers are eligible for both short- and long-term disability plans, 100% paid by the County. For officers permanently and totally disabled by a catastrophic injury sustained in the line of duty, substantial federal disability benefits are also available through the Department of Justice.

The retirement and disability benefits available to County Sheriff’s Officers are more than competitive when compared to those available to the average American citizen. The question that must be answered, however, is “are they sufficiently competitive to attract and retain qualified officers?” As has been pointed out, the County’s pension plan offers a pension after 30 years of service; most pension plans for law enforcement officers in Maryland offer a pension after 25 (or in some cases, fewer) years. It is also important to recognize that Carroll County relies on two local retirement plans instead of one, and on a disability plan provided separately from the pension plan. In the process of drafting changes to the retirement plan provisions in place for law enforcement officers of the Sheriff’s Office, it is important to keep in mind that a different approach than that taken by other agencies does not by itself mean an inferior approach.