The Winamac Police Department is looking toward a change in retirement benefits to help improve officer retention. The 1977 Retirement Fund would allow officers to retire earlier and get more money than the current system, but it would require bigger contributions from the town as well as individual officers.
Town Marshal Tyler Campbell says few towns like Winamac are using the 1977 Fund, but the surrounding cities it competes with for officers are. “Let’s say we have an officer from Logansport, Rochester, one of those other agencies, that have 15 years of service in. There would be no reason for them to ever think about coming to Winamac, absolutely none, because they already have 15 years in the 1977 Fund. If we move to this, we potentially could get some of those candidates to come here and spend their last five, 10, 15 years of service because they can pick right up where they left off,” Campbell told the town council during a special meeting last month.
He said switching pension systems would likely cost the town another $20,000 a year. Officers’ annual contributions would be up to $2,000 more, but existing officers would be able to keep their current plan.
The new pension would also require an administrative overhaul of the town’s police service, switching it from what is technically a town marshal’s office to an actual police department. That would require the establishment of a metropolitan board of police commissioners, which, in reality, could be made up of the same members as the town council. A new pension board would also have to be set up, consisting of the council president, clerk-treasurer, police chief, and a retired officer.
In the end, council members decided not to make any decisions until next Monday’s regular meeting.
