Assignment Desk: No Compensation Provision of Pension Reform

To: Hilary Chabot, Matt Viser and whomever else is writing on pension reform.

Pension reform plans put forward by the Senate and the Governor each have provisions to stop local officials serving in largely voluntary positions from receiving pension service credit for time in those positions.

The problem is that each of the bills restricts this reform to “unpaid local officials” (in this case of the Governor) or “municipal officials” who served in positions with “no compensation” (in the case of the Senate).

Why shouldn’t this count towards state positions and those local positions that receive a nominal salary, as many moderators and selectboards do? No offense to those providing those important services, but credit towards a state pension should not be part of the bargain.