The Town of North Hempstead enacted a new employee retirement incentive, but town board Democrats questioned the benefits of the program in contrast with an already understaffed workforce.
“It seems like we’re always understaffed,” Council Member Christine Liu, a Democrat, said. “We don’t have enough code enforcement to be out there, we don’t have enough night enforcement, we don’t have a traffic engineer, so that is out concern and that is why we asked for a simple cost-benefit analysis.”
The resolution was passed 4-3, with all the board Democrats voting against the retirement incentive.
Council Memebr Robert Troiano said voting on the resolution was challenging without having an understanding of the projected benefits and savings of the initiative.
“I am appalled and find it unconscionable how anybody could vote for this on a ‘maybe,’” Troiano said, referring to the lack of analysis on this initiative’s cost and benefit.
Liu and Troiano said they had asked if there was a cost-benefit analysis done prior to the board’s meeting, but none was available.
“To ask us to vote when we don’t know if there’s any savings in this program, or what it’s going to cost or how it’s being paid for – and those are real questions that any council person should ask and members of the public have a right to know,” Troiano said.
The town’s 2025 budget includes $1.5 million from the town’s reserves to pay for this incentive, Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said.
Full-time employees with at least 10 years contributing to a retirement system or pension plan are eligible for the retirement incentive. It is available for employees who would not be eligible for retirement as well, according to the memorandum.
Employees who opt in would be granted $2,000 or 2% of their base salary for each year of eligible employment up to 20 years. For employees with more than 20 years under their belt, they are offered an additional $3,000 or 3% of their base salary for each year of employment after 20 years.
Employees can choose between taking the flat pay or a percentage rate. Retirees can receive their incentive pay either through a single lump sum or over three-year installments.
The incentive does not apply for elected officials, employees fired or a retired member under a retirement system or pension plan who is receiving a retirement allowance.
The window for this agreement are for retirees between Feb. 5 and May 1, but employees opting into the incentive must declare their intent to retire by March 15.
Council Member Mariann Dalimonte, a Democrat, expressed concern about the potential effect of losing institutional knowledge from within the town by incentivizing its senior employees to retire.
“This could be a mass exit, and that’s what I worry about,” Dalimonte said.
In September, CSEA Unit 7555 President Tom McDonough said the town’s employment of union members had fallen to an all-time low since he became president five years prior. He said the town has been “grossly understaffed” for as long as three decades.
DeSena said 63 employees were eligible for the program at the time it was adopted, but did not know how many planned to opt in. She said the incentive was achieved through negotiations with the town union.
DeSena said this is a common practice for municipalities.
“This is not expected to hurt our ability to perform the jobs we do for the town,” DeSena said.
