More Montgomery County police officers retired last year than since 2005, the president of the county police union said Tuesday, in a trend he blamed on the county’s reduction of disability benefits.
In 2011, 29 union members retired, almost double the 16 who retired in 2010. In 2009, 23 retired, and 18 did in 2008.
The county gives police officers more incentive to leave than to stay by reducing disability benefits, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35 President Marc Zifcak said Tuesday.
“No police officer should have to hesitate to consider her or his financial situation before acting to protect a member of the community,” Zifcak said. “What’s the guarantee that if you get disabled you’ll stay employed?”
Zifcak testified Tuesday before the Montgomery County Council in favor of increased benefits for police officers and other county employees who are partially disabled on the job.
Last year, the council approved a two-tiered disability benefits system that gives fully disabled employees 70 percent of their final salary and partially disabled employees 52.5 percent. A recent arbitration decision favored the union’s request for partial disability benefits at 60 percent and full disability benefits at 66.7 percent.
The union’s proposed change “has too narrow a range between partial and full [disability benefits],” said Brian McTigue, a local lawyer who testified before the council. Far from giving officers incentive to stay in the department, the proposed change encourages “people to try to game the system in order to get their disability pay,” he said.
The proposal also would make the county more generous than any neighboring jurisdiction, said Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville and chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee.
For example, though Fairfax County offers 66.7 percent of final salary to any police officer disabled after fewer than 25 years of employment, it requires partially disabled officers to stay in the department on light duty, according to council documents.
And Prince George’s County offers 55 percent of final pay to retirees with a partial disability.
