Stephen Ivain Supports Improving Police, Fire Pension

Following change in retirement benefits, Torrington struggles with retaining police officers BY BRUNO MATARAZZO JR. REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN October 18, 2021548 TORRINGTON — Police officers Tyler Otis and Brian Cugini started together at the Torrington Police Department after graduating in March 2016 from the Connecticut Police Academy. Five years later both are gone, leaving Torrington for police departments elsewhere in the state with higher pay and a pension. The departure of police officers as well as firefighters to other departments has become a common occurrence in recent years after unions and the city agreed to move from pensions to 401(k) retirement plans. The result has meant staffing shortages for the departments resulting in soaring overtime as officers and firefighters are called in to fill shifts. It also raises a dilemma for the next mayoral administration. Otis and Cugini were some of the first hires for the department after the change to a 401(k) system in 2014. Cugini left in 2018 for a job at the UConn police department. Otis’ last day with the department was last week, leaving for a job in Plainville. Otis is the 10th officer with a 401(k) plan to leave for another department with a pension since April 2018. The fire department, which left the pension system in 2009, has seen nine firefighters leave for departments that offer a pension, according to firefighters’ union President Jeremy Minard. “Not only have we lost these members, but still have members continually pursuing other options. These members, while not in a pension, also do not receive Social Security benefits,” Minard said. Minard said the loss of the pension has been a “great point of contention” between the union and the city. “As far as pay, there is a very large disparity not only between the Torrington police department and fire department, 18% difference, but also between comparable municipalities. We’ve looked at regional comparisons, as well as municipalities with similar abilities to pay and are on average 15% behind them, as well,” Minard said. Minard said the union plans to seek a competitive wage increase and reinstatement of a pension in future negotiations. Lt. Greg Wityak, president of the police union, said some departments have switched from pensions to 401ks and then back to pensions, most recently in Rocky Hill. “Unfortunately, it’s not just a local thing. It’s a state and nationwide issue. I’ve seen places that come to the realization that the savings of a 401 plan weren’t what they expected and the cost of replacing the officers evened out the savings to the municipality,” said Wityak, adding that the union is exploring all options to make an offer viable for the union, the city and citizens. THE CITY HAS TWO MAIN PENSION FUNDS, one for City Hall employees, and another for police and firefighters. Both pensions are closed. In this budget, the city is paying $5.85 million to fund its pensions. The City Hall pension is funded at 80.4% while the police and fire pension is funded at 62.1%. During her time in office, Carbone sought to limit the overtime used to calculate pensions that ultimately prompted arbitration with the police union on the argument that Torrington is an economically distressed city that cannot meet the union’s demands. “I know that police recruitment is a problem all over the state. It isn’t just the city of Torrington,” Carbone said. Before saying she would commit to restoring pensions, Carbone said there would need to be a full analysis of why officers are leaving the city or even a statewide analysis of the issue by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. “Before I can say I’m on board with restoring the pension, I think there would need to be a whole lot of analysis done so that we can explain and justify it to the taxpayers because ultimately it is the taxpayers that are going to be shouldering that responsibility,” Carbone said. Carbone said she doesn’t believe restoring the pension would be the solution to the staffing issues since other departments with pensions in the state are also losing officers. She noted a police officer working in New Haven, which offers a pension, was hired by Torrington a few years ago. Democratic mayoral challenger Stephen Ivain said the issue of reintroducing the pensions needs to be looked into because of the high number of recruits the city is losing to other departments. “If you look at the turnover in the police force, I think we were down 15 guys at one point. That’s a lot of people. All those guys working overtime, time and half, for those guys working up to 80 hours a week for years, it’s a huge cost that we’re taking on,” Ivain said. IN ADDITION TO OVERTIME, the city pays for the police academy tuition and then provides training on the job. “We have to figure out what kind of costs we are incurring. When you figure in your turnover rate, overtime and hiring new recruits, you have to look at what is the true cost to offering that kind of pension,” Ivain said. The loss of so many police officers means the loss of experienced officers, especially as longtime officers retire after hitting 25 years. “This is where having a veteran experience really pays off for our city,” Ivain said. “We want these guys to live here, raise their families here, we want them to be coaches on the team. You want to keep and want to attract and have these guys here in our city, and offering the right benefits package makes the difference.”