Dan Tobben: St. Louis City’s Proposed Firefighter Pension Change May Be Illegal

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported that St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay appears to be putting together a new proposal that may attempt to do away with the existing pension system for new firefighters joining the St. Louis City Fire Department. At a minimum, it would apparently reduce the benefits of any new firefighter joining the department. (Current and retired firefighters would remain in the current system.)

While details have not been released, Jeff Rainford, the mayor’s Chief of Staff, has started briefing the aldermanic council on the mayor’s intents. According to aldermen, Rainford has stated that if negotiations with the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 73 are not successful,

… the city would move to essentially “opt out” of the current system and start a new agency to govern firefighter retirement ….”

Slay has stalled a proposal already presented to the board for consideration that would save over $1 million a year, according to one alderman. The proposal was created through negotiations between the union and the City, with the drafting assistance of Dan Tobben and Cheryl Beebe Snell, attorneys for the Firemen’s Retirement System.

Joe Vaccaro, alderman in the city’s southwestern 23rd Ward, is frustrated that Slay has successfully stalled his bill, which he introduced this session to change firefighter disability benefits and save the city more than $1 million a year.

Slay asked Craig Schmid, alderman in south city’s 20th Ward and chair of the Public Employees committee, not to hear the bill until Slay’s plan is ready.

“He told me it doesn’t go far enough,” Vaccaro said of Slay. “Why not let my bill stand, save taxpayer money, and they can introduce their own legislation?”

Herein lies one of the underlying problems with the City’s proposal: does the City of St. Louis have the authority to set up a retirement system for its firefighters? In St. Louis, firefighter and police retirement systems are set up by state law, which Slay has publicly acknowledged.  In the article, Tobben stated that he did not think that, without a state law allowing it, the City can create its own pension system for new employees.

“This all sounds very speculative and uncertain at this point,” Tobben said. “Beyond that, they sound like they are going down a road that may not be legally proper.”

If the City is concerned about legality of such a move, its spokesman is choosing to not address the issue.

Rainford refused to address such concerns. “We’re not going to talk about the legal aspects of it at the moment,” he said Friday.

Read more … St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Read more … historical cases between the City of St. Louis and the Firemen’s Retirement System:

Firemen’s Retirement System vs. City of St Louis - Supreme Court decision

Firemen’s Retirement System vs. City of St Louis - Court of Appeals decision