Pottstown Borough Council Sets Plans for Police Benefits and Pensions

The Pottstown Borough Council laid out the plans for borough police pensions and benefits for the 2014 calendar year at its meeting Monday night.

First, the council carried a motion to open a long-term savings account that is interest-bearing with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, to fund the Police Pension Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB). The OPEB is for post-retirement medical benefits, which is a contracted benefit, according to Mark Flanders, borough manager.

The borough will fund it by making deposits into that account to build it.  This is an obligation that their auditor has set for the past 2 years, said Flanders after the meeting.  It is funded in the budget.

Flanders said after the meeting that said the amount of $27 million dollar amount is required to fully fund medical benefits for currently retired and future retired police personnel.

The council also carried a motion to set the Police Pension Plan salary contribution for borough police to be 5%. Every year the actuary who is involved with the matter determines what amount in employee salary contributions is needed to keep the fund “sound,” said Flanders, after the meeting.

The borough’s obligation for the police pension plan, also referred to as the Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) in 2014 is $865,432, he said.

“The MMO and the percentages, that’s something that’s done every year, and the OPEB is something that we’ve planned for and are moving forward with,” Flanders said after the meeting.