Montgomery County police officers seeking disability pensions will face new rules today when changes voted on by the County Council go into effect — though without a provision that critics say is necessary for “meaningful reform.”
After months of debate over a system that awarded 62 percent of retiring officers a disability pension during a recent three-year period, the County Council in May approved changing the makeup of the medical panel that reviews cases and other procedural changes that were previously agreed upon by County Executive Ike Leggett and the Fraternal Order of Police union.
But the council didn’t pass a two-tiered disability system that would pay less money to partially disabled officers and more to officers with more severe injuries. Currently, disabled police officers — regardless of the nature of their injuries — receive two-thirds of their salary in a tax-free pension.
Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, D-at large, said the absence of a tiered approach meant the county’s efforts to reform the disability pension system were far from over.
“It’s mandatory to have meaningful reform,” said Trachtenberg, chairwoman of the council’s Management and Fiscal Policy Committee.
A two-tiered system was a key recommendation of a consultant who studied the county’s disability system, as well as the county’s inspector general, who documented the trends in the disability system that he said a “prudent person would consider abusive.”
From 1985 to 2008, 274 out of 686 retiring officers, or 40 percent, retired with disability pay, according to the police union. Surrounding counties have seen much lower rates.
Inspector General Thomas Dagley found that 62 percent of officers retired with a disability pension in a recent three-year span.
The majority of the county’s disabled officers suffer from orthopedic injuries that would be considered partial disabilities, according to County Council staff.
Trachtenberg said she would continue to monitor trends in disability pensions and hoped Leggett and the FOP could negotiate a tiered system during upcoming contract talks. Otherwise, she said, the council will have to revisit the issue once it sees that the hoped-for reforms aren’t happening.
Former FOP President Walt Bader said he wasn’t convinced a two-tiered approach was needed, and accused Trachtenberg of trying to play politics with an issue he said shouldn’t be legislated.
“Those details needs to be worked out at the bargaining table,” he said.
