RTM Upholds Westport Public Works Pension Reform

The RTM voted not to reject the plan as begins the process of realigning pensions for town workers.

The two significant changes in the Public Works pension plan are:

1. All new Public Works employees hired after the date of the award will join a town-defined contribution plan. 
2. With some exceptions, the maximum benefits payable to current employees under the existing defined benefit plan will be capped at 65 percent of ending salary, rather than the present 81.25 percent.

Concerning the 65 percent pension cap, the decision (attached as a PDF) states "it is important to emphasize that, shockingly, the current pension calculation permits employees to retire and collect up to 81.25 percent of their Final Average Compensation." Capping retirement benefits at 65 percent of a public workers' final year's salary is within the standards of other Fairfield County towns and still gives employees a significant retirement benefit.

First Selectman Gordon Joseloff has said repeatedly that Westport can no longer afford to continue to pay the level of benefits that have been approved in past agreements.

"What we are doing is no different than what other municipalities have done and are seeking to do and what is now the practice in much of private industry,” Joseloff said.

The arbitration plan notes that Westport's pension costs have dramatically increased, more than 1000 percent in the last five years alone, and that there is a "clear and overwhelming trend toward defined contribution plans in the public sector."

This negotiation and arbitration took three years to complete, but the result is very good for Westport, according to Board of Finance Vice Chair Helen Garten. 

“Both the defined contribution plan for new employees and the 65 percent cap on defined pension benefits are important steps toward achieving a sustainable benefits package that works for both taxpayers and employees," Garten stated at a prior Board of Finance meeting concerning the pension reductions. 

These changes apply only to members of this particular pension plan and union. Westport has four union pension plans and two nonunion plans.

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