Some members of the Starke County Council and the Police Merit Board will be meeting in the near future to talk over the police pension fund. Merit Board President, Ken Arnett, discussed the status of the fund with the Starke County Council this week and for now, it looks pretty positive.
County Council President, Mark Smith, said there was a time when the pension figures looked pretty dire.
“When we first started to deal with the Merit Board and those pension issues, it was pretty dire. They were looking for $300,000 or $400,000 that they felt at that time that just to maintain the pension, they needed that much money and that figure’s now $150,000 to $160,000 now.”
In these future meetings, Smith said the council members will want to know if there is going to be an injection of cash needed in the future to keep the fund afloat, and what the trend is for the future health of the fund.
“From there, I think that probably there will be some discussion opened up as to, is the pension as we know it now the best for the merit officers? Is is what’s the best for the county? Are we going to be able to maintain it in its present form? If the answer is yes, then we’ll move forward. If the answer is no, you’re going to have the right people at the table to maybe come up with a solution to make sure that long-term, those Sheriff’s deputies can count on having a pension.”
