Tobben Comments on Mayor Slay’s New Firefighter Pension and Disability Bills

Mayor Francis Slay is submitting two bills to the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen on Friday, February 10, 2012 that will “essentially close the current Firemen’s Retirement System of St. Louis, which is partly controlled by state law, and start a new, city-governed fire pension plan,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Post reports that the new bills will affect all newly-hired firefighters going forward, but some changes will also affect current firefighters, including “reducing retirement earnings for nearly all firefighters going forward” and increasing yearly firefighter contributions.

 According to the article, the Mayor’s proposal faces opposition from the Firemen’s Retirement System of St. Louis, the firefighters’ pension board, if passed.

Executive Director Vicky Grass declined to comment on the bills’ details. But the system’s private attorney, Dan Tobben, said Wednesday that the mayor wasn’t going about reform correctly.

“The fact that they’re ‘opting out’ and setting up a different pension program seems clearly to be against state law,” he said.

Moreover, he said, courts across the country have ruled that cities can’t change benefits for existing workers, only new hires.

 Read the full story 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