Monroe County sheriff’s deputies push for retirement plan changes
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Monroe County council, sheriff’s deputies advocated for changes to their retirement package, which will require about $200,000 more funding each year, based on an actuarial report done by McCready and Keene, Inc.
Deputies would like to see two basic eligibility options for retirement.
One option would make deputy sheriffs eligible to retire at age 50, if they have logged at least eight years of service. The second option would allow for retirement at any age, after 25 years of service, which would allow those who start their careers at age 21 to retire when they are 46 years old.
The current retirement plan makes deputies eligible to retire at age 55 with no reduced benefit. Under the current plan, they can retire at age 52, if they have 25 years of service. So part of what the deputies are requesting is the elimination of the age requirement that is currently tied to the 25-year option.
No decision was made by the council on Tuesday night.
Council president Trent Deckard indicated that the decision on changing the retirement plan for deputies would come as a part of the council’s upcoming regular budget process.
The process for adopting the 2025 budget will likely include presentations from departments over the course of a half dozen meetings starting in early September, lasting through nearly the third week of the month. A hearing will be held in the first week of October. The 2025 budget will likely get a first reading in the middle of October, with adoption in the third week of the month.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the presentation was made by two deputies—Jeff Brown and corporal Josh Fuller. They were supported by Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté, and chief deputy Phil Parker. Filling the Nat U. Hill Room in the historic county courthouse where the council meets, were a couple dozen other deputies in uniform.
Brow and Fuller outlined the reasons they’re asking for the change, which are focused on recruitment and retention.
They thanked the council for the pay increase last year, which under the collective bargaining agreement matched the increase given to other Monroe County employees, which was 8.5 percent.
The pay increase had already had a good impact, Fuller said. In the last year, five deputies had been recruited from surrounding counties, with three more in the hiring process. That will make eight “lateral” hires, which are more cost effective from a training perspective.
Fuller indicated that the 15-week academy, added to another 12 to 15 weeks of field training, is time when the county government is paying the officers but not actually getting policing services from them. He pegged the salary paid during training through the academy at around $19,000.
In his introductory remarks, Marté described lateral hires as already highly trained, so they just need to be introduced to Monroe County’s “culture.”
Brown indicated that he thinks with an improvement in retirement benefits, it might even be possible to recruit officers away from Bloomington’s police department, to come on board as Monroe County deputies.
In his remarks, Parker looked at the time span of 25 years from his perspective, having been in law enforcement for 41 years. “I ran out of gas about 10 times and somehow refueled up to come back,” Parker said.
But Parker said that if you know in your heart that it’s time to leave, it’s important to have that financial option as a police officer. “If you feel like you’re trapped in this job, and you have no way out financially, that you can’t leave, bad things happen—they just do.” Parker added, “It’s not good for the community, it’s not good for the police officer.”
