By Drew Volturo,
Delaware State News
DOVER — A group of Delaware legislators want to shave five years off the 30 years it takes for state workers to retire with a full pension.
The proposal has surfaced before in Legislative Hall but has never garnered enough support to become law.
Sen. David B. McBride, D-New Castle, the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 16, said he has introduced the bill many times during his 27-year legislative career, but the measure has never won approval.
“It’s one of those bills, I just keep working on. … I’m not a quitter,” Sen. McBride said.
“There is a lot of interest for the bill from state employees, particularly teachers.
“I think a lot of state workers suffer from burnout. Twenty-five years in a job as intense as teaching is a lot.”
But SB 16, which has 30 of the 62 legislators listed as sponsors and co-sponsors and has the backing of teachers’, correction officers’ and state workers’ groups, could be shot down again by the financial tag it carries.
“In a perfect world, this does have its merits, but there’s always the fiscal issue,” said Sen. Nancy W. Cook, D-Kenton, a co-sponsor and chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, where the bill has been assigned.
Allowing state workers to retire at 25 years with a full pension would cost the state millions of dollars annually in pension fund contributions and health insurance costs, Sen. Cook said.
“Then there’s the impact of adding five years of health care to someone’s retirement,” she said.
State pension administrator David C. Craik said his office is reworking numbers from the last time the bill was introduced in 2005, when the earlier retirement would have cost the state more than $13 million over three years.
The revised figures should be available this week, Mr. Craik said, and they are likely to increase with many baby boomers falling in that 25- to 30-year range.
“Roughly 13 percent of our state employee population would be affected by the (legislation),” Mr. Craik said, pointing to about 4,500 of 34,000 state workers.
Most state employees must work 30 years before retiring with a full pension.
Members of the state police can retire after 20 years, and judges’ retirements are based on their 12-year terms.
If an employee retires prior to 30 years, there is a 0.2 percent per month penalty for each month of service the worker is short of 30 years.
Delaware State Education Association president Barbara Grogg said teachers have pushed for the 25-year retirement for at least the past decade.
“It’s important to teachers and other educators because their jobs have become more complicated and more time-consuming,” Ms. Grogg said.
“It’s a very positive option to offer, even when it comes to recruitment and retainment.”
Ms. Grogg said she is heartened by the number and status of co-sponsors on SB 16 — which include House Speaker Rep. Terry R. Spence, R-New Castle, House Minority Leader Rep. Robert F. Gilligan, D-Wilmington, the chairs of the joint finance and bond bill committees; and three of the four caucus whips.
But Sen. McBride noted that the co-sponsors historically have supported the legislation “and that doesn’t guarantee passage.”
The bottom line, he said, would come down to whether the state can afford the pension and health care costs in a year in which slots revenues are projected to fall and Medicaid costs are likely to increase again.
“If you start looking at our pension, I’m not sure fiscally if this is the smartest thing to do,” said Sen. John C. Still III, R-Dover.
Municipalities, he said, would have to improve their pension plans to remain competitive with the state’s proposed 25-year plan.
Wilbur Justice, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, doesn’t see why Delaware State Police troopers can retire after 20 years but correction officers have to work another decade to get a full pension.
“Our job is more hazardous than the state police in some ways,” Mr. Justice said.
“We’re keeping up with the same inmates daily, while they arrest them, drop them off to us and they’re done with them.”
Mr. Justice said offering a 25-year retirement could entice more people to look at the field as a possible career and encourage officers to stay on the force.
Delaware prisons have had a staffing shortage in recent years which has resulted in overtime being used to cover shifts.
“It’s tough to get up every day and go to jail or the hospital,” said Michael A. Begatto, who represents public workers through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
AFSCME supports the bill, but Mr. Begatto said he is aware that SB 16 could fall victim to the same problems as its predecessors.
Financially, the earlier retirement would have a benefit that offsets some of the pension and health care costs, Mr. Craik said.
According to 2005 estimates, the pension and health care costs from decreasing the retirement five years would be $30.7 million over three years, but there would be a salary savings of $17.25 million with the higher-paid workers being replaced by entry-level employees.
Although the additional retirees would create openings for other workers to climb the career ladder, Mr. Craik noted there also is a “knowledge transfer walking out the door” with the retirees.
Mr. Justice said just having that 25-year window is enough for many workers — most wouldn’t flock for the door when they hit that service time.
“If you had an early out, you’d lose some people, but you’d also attract and keep some too,” said Mr. Justice, who has worked 25 years with DOC.
“When you get to 20 years, it’s easier to do five years than 10.
“(If SB 16 passed), I would stay a few more years, but it’s nice to have that window.”
Staff writer Drew Volturo can be reached at 741-8296 or dvolturo@newszap.com
