NEW PALESTINE — It’s always been a problem for Bob Ehle, New Palestine’s chief of police, attracting young talent, training them and watching them leave because the force couldn’t offer a better retirement plan.
Town officials have addressed the issue, approving participation in the 1977 Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement Fund, an idea spearheaded by council member Angie Fahrnow, who brought the measure before the council.
For years, the town offered no type of Public Employee Retirement Fund plan for employees, but it added a civilian plan a few years ago. Ehle said many police officers and firefighters can put in 20 years of service and get a police or first-responder pension, but since New Palestine didn’t offer a special retirement program for police, Ehle always had a tough time getting officers to stay.
That may change now that the council approved the measure by a unanimous vote late last week.
“With this, now guys will want to stay, and if they should get hurt on the job, they’re protected and so is their family,” Ehle said.
The new deal, which town officials hope to have in place by this fall, will require the employer to contribute 17.5% of a certified salary to fund the benefit, while the officer puts in 6% each pay period.
The town of New Palestine is one of the fastest-growing areas in the county, officials noted. The town has six full-time officers, including a full-time school resource officer. Ehle said the town needs at least 10 full-time officers to be able to handle the growth. Being able to offer a retirement plan will help attract new recruits.
The retirement plan requires a person to be at least 52 in order to get the money from the plan and have at least 20 years of service in the PERF. There are currently three young officers on the department who have a chance to get in 20 years of service and take advantage of the retirement fund.
It’s money well invested, town officials said, considering the alternative.
“If we have a revolving police force, you’re constantly training and you’re losing money,” council president Bill Niemier said. “We have to make the biggest investment in our personnel.”
Niemier noted joining the police retirement fund is something other towns and departments already offer.
Council member Clint Bledsoe said he was in favor of the idea, but didn’t want other town employees to feel slighted because they are not part of a special 20-year retirement program.
Town employees can enroll in a current civilian retirement plan that gets 11% from the employer.
“Do we value these employees more than we value our regular employees?” Bledsoe said.
Fahrnow and Ehle both immediately answered “Yes,” in unison.
“They throw themselves in front of bullets, will run into burning buildings…” Fahrnow said. “From all the evidence I’ve gathered, our police have been overlooked.”
Ehle noted his youngest officer has three years of experience, and if they don’t offer him some kind of incentive to stay, he’s likely going to leave, causing them to have to bring in another officer and spend money to train a new person, which costs far more than training a new office worker.
“My point is I don’t want people to feel neglected,” Bledsoe said. “But, we do need to do whatever we can to retain people we have to get trained.”
Council member Chris Lytle, a firefighter in Marion County, said the town doesn’t have much of an issue retaining office workers, but the turnover for first-responders is high if incentives are not available.
“We can now become competitive with other departments,” Ehle said. “I’ve got three guys here who are hot commodities who can go anywhere tomorrow.”
Ehle noted with several new subdivisions coming into the area. The population is getting ready to “explode,” and that means more police calls.
“This isn’t for me,” Ehle said. “I’m not working another 20 years, but I want to make sure before I leave this place is set for the future.”
Ehle told the council he asked for the special police benefit 20 years ago when he started and continued to ask each of the next 10 years, but was always told no.
“I’m done playing that game,” Ehle said. “We need to take care of these guys.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Three types of benefits are payable in the ‘77 Fund. All are funded by the employer-financed contribution and the employee mandatory contribution:
< Retirement benefits
< Survivor benefits
< Disability benefits
[sc:pullout-text-end]
