City Votes No on Raise for Retirees

The city has voted down a proposed increase to the Paducah Police and Firefighters' Pension Fund payment to retirees.

At Tuesday's Paducah City Commission meeting, commissioner Richard Abraham moved to adopt an ordinance that would have increased the annual payment to retired city police officers and firefighters by 2 percent. Abraham said this would have constituted about 40 dollars a month for most retirees within the system.

Mayor Gayle Kaler and Commissioner Sandra Wilson gave the two dissenting votes on the measure. Commissioner Allan Rhodes did not attend the meeting.

Wilson cited fiscal concerns when explaining her vote, saying the city has had to pay far above what was originally budgeted for the fund.

"If you look at our current budget, we are already making a payment of about a half million to the fund that was established in 2005 to get that fund fully funded," Wilson said. "We paid 415,000 last year in addition to that to keep it fully funded." Wilson said that retirees within the system were told that raises would only be given if there was enough money to fully fund them in the city's retirement account, noting that additional money is needed every year just to keep the system at current levels.

Mayor Kaler said she voted against the proposed ordinance because she thinks a one-time increase is the wrong move.

"What bothers me is that it was one time," Kaler said. "It seems capricious for us to sit up here and give somebody a one time increase. Either we do it every year, or we don't do it."

Commissioner Carol Gault said it's unfair that while widows within the system have had a substantial increase in their benefits over the years, retirees themselves have received none.

"The widows had a cumulative increase of over 10 percent, and it's the people who did the work that obviously have had no increase." Gault said.

Commissioner Abraham went on record saying he thinks the vote was unfortunate, noting that he believes this increase would have been well deserved by those who worked hard for the city for many years.

"I think our retirees that came to work every day and put it on the line deserve that extra forty bucks," Abraham said. "For me this was a no-brainer."