Mayor and police chief propose police incentive plan

April 29--CHAMBERSBURG -- The borough has agreed to look into a special incentive payment program aired by Mayor Darren Brown and Police Chief David Arnold, which rewards police officers for giving early notices of retirement.

"It is a proposal that the chief and I have worked together on," said Brown. "I think it has potential to save the borough and the taxpayers money."

The plan that is now in place, is a $2,750 bonus for officers who give notification a year before retirement.

The proposed plan includes using the $17,082 savings he calculates when hiring a new officer versus a senior officer ready to retire, to keep the cost of borough insurance to $4,800 for a year after they leave, and would leave the individual $10,450 to place in a health savings account.

This would save the borough $6,322 in total, he said.

Brown said the plan, after crunching numbers, will save money and will help keep the injury rate of lower officers down by giving them more incentives to retire.

Arnold said that the current health care payment for borough health care for two people would cost approximately $18,000 for 2015. Pension benefit pay for an officer who retires at above the average rate of $67,000, would collect $33,500 a year.

"If the officer received only the current special incentive amount of money, it would be gone in two months just to maintain current health care," Arnold said.

He said that due to changes in the economy, and the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act, things have changed for his officers.

"Knowing that there have been changes in the health care costs," Arnold said. "I ask you to look at it with an open mind."

The proposal is similar to one enacted and finished in 2010 by town council for AFSCME and non-bargaining employees when individuals between 62 and 65 were given the option to obtain Medicare coverage at age 65 by paying 1 to 3 years (based on age) of a single individual health insurance premium on behalf of the retiree, according to Stonehill.

The borough currently offers no post retirement health benefit for any former employee, he said.

Many members of council voiced their opinions about the plan.

Council talked about the plan, with many discussing the notion of how high they believed the cost was.

Council member Elaine Swartz said, "I do understand that it is expensive to retire but I cannot in good conscience agree to paying people exorbitant amounts of money."

She said she was interested in potentially a health savings plan to run for the career of the officer in the long run.

Council member William McLaughlin said he would be interested in discussing the issue further if there was wording in the incentive program to only allow it for a short period of time.

A motion was made by council for the borough manager to look into the idea and any program enacted must be with consent of the union, Stonehill said.

Lauren Cappuccio can be contacted at 262-4754.

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