PERS legislation, which refers to the laws and regulations related to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), ensures that public employees are provided with retirement benefits that are fair and sustainable. PERS legislation helps to attract and retain high-quality public employees by providing them with financial security in their retirement years. It also helps to promote economic stability by ensuring that retirees have a reliable source of income. When pension reform occurred in 2007, Business Administrators (town managers) were disqualified from the PERS pension and relegated to a defined contribution plan called The Defined Contribution Retirement Program (DCRP).
Jillian Barrick, Business Administrator in Morristown, explained that there are two major results of this policy:
- Business Administrators and Managers are deprived of parity with other professional positions who are eligible for the pension system. In fact, in many municipalities, the Administrator is the only position not eligible for a pension.
- Anyone who is coming up through the ranks, and aspires to become an Administrator, would be required to either stall their careers at a lower level or sacrifice their earned pension to accept the position. This discourages upward mobility and development of talented senior professionals in local government.
Business Administrators, through the State, are currently working on implementing legislation that will allow Business Administrators back into PERS. So far, the senate has introduced S-2552, which has bi-partisan support including the primary sponsors of Sen Gopal (D) and Sen Bucco (R). Administrators are encouraged to help with this effort, especially in reaching out to local legislators for their support.
Please reach out to Jillian Barrick at j-barrick@townofmorristown.org with any questions.