Alderman: Eliminate pay-spike perk now

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin wants the city to immediately eliminate the 5 percent pay spike for Springfield Police Department command staff, including retiring Police Chief Robert Williams. The longtime perk for police department employees is set to end Feb. 28. But McMenamin says the city shouldn’t wait that long.

McMenamin said Williams should be asked to resign immediately or be terminated. He also asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would immediately eliminate the pay spike for police command staff.

“Granting generous retirement pay spikes to permanently enlarge pensions checks by executive order is wrong and inappropriate to begin with,” McMenamin said. “And now to provide a departing chief and possibly others a golden parachute to use vacation and sick days to get to a spike is inappropriate and even more wrong under the circumstances that we are all aware of.”

The 26-year-veteran of the police department made the abrupt announcement after it was discovered that he had signed an agreement with the president of the police union — without the approval of the mayor or city council — to change a recently approved contract and allow internal-affairs records to be destroyed after four years instead of five. As a result, documents that were the subject of a Freedom of Information Act request were shredded, prompting a lawsuit.

Williams is still on the payroll using accrued paid time off and is expected to officially retire Oct. 22. Retiring on that date — his birthday — allows him to receive a parting 5 percent pay hike that will boost his pension. Williams made more than $121,500 a year as police chief, according to a city payroll list. McMenamin said the mayor has estimated the pay spike would increase Williams’ annual city pension by about $4,000 a year.

Can’t afford it?

Employees in the police department are eligible for a 5 percent raise — known as the “spike” — for one pay period twice a year around their work anniversaries and birthdays. After those pay periods, the employee’s pay returns to where it was previously.

When employees retire during a bump period, their pensions are based on the increased salary rather than their regular pay.

Aldermen in December approved a three-year contract with the Police Benevolent and Protective Association No. 5 that eliminated the pay spike for union employees as of February 2014. The mayor signed an executive order on March 4 that eliminated the perk for non-union command staff as well. It also is effective Feb. 28.

***(In the interest of space this article has been edited from the original.)

Read the full article at sj-r.com…