PERS Ordered to Give Info to Union
By Dennison, Mike
HELENA – A judge says the state Public Employees Retirement Board cannot withhold police retirement fund data from a police officers’ group, which wants to analyze the information.
In an order signed late Thursday, state District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena told the board to provide the retirement data to the Montana Police Protective Association, which represents about 600 active-duty officers.
“We do not have just any Tom, Dick and Harry who wants this information,” Sherlock wrote. “These are individuals who wish to examine the workings of a government program that significantly affects them.”
The MPPA asked for the information last year so its own expert can analyze how a deferred-retirement program is affecting the state retirement fund for police officers. The fund covers about 1,200 retired and active police officers.
The Public Employees Retirement Board, which oversees several state retirement funds, repeatedly refused to release the data. It said releasing the data would violate privacy rights of people covered by the police retirement fund.
T.J. Hawkins, a Billings Police detective and president of the MPPA, said Friday that his group looks forward to working with the state board on receiving the information and protecting the privacy of retirees.
“It’s just too bad that we had to go the long way around and go through all the time, effort and financial effort to get (the information),” he said. “The ruling is pretty much what we had asked to do in the beginning.”
The MPPA said it had offered to arrange a “protective order” so individuals’ retirement data wouldn’t be released to the general public.
Sherlock’s order said the two parties should arrange a protective order so that only the MPPA’s expert, director and attorney can see the information.
Scott Miller, an attorney for the state retirement board, said he and the board hadn’t had time to examine the order, and declined comment.
The controversy centers on a deferred-retirement plan meant to encourage veteran police officers to stay on the force, rather than takingretirement after 20 years.
Those who choose the program and keep working can begin drawing their retirement, but that money goes into a deferred account, which is paid out in a lump sum when they actually leave the force.
They also keep paying 9 percent of their salary into the retirement fund for all police officers. But their retirement pay is frozen at the 20-year level, and does not increase with additional years of service.
Hawkins has said police officers are questioning why they should keep paying the 9 percent contribution when they get no return benefit.
A consultant hired by the Public Employees Retirement Board in 2006 said the deferred-retirement program already is hurting the financial health of the police retirement fund.
The MPPA wants to hire its own expert to do its own financial analysis of the effects of the deferred-retirement program, and sought data from the fund. It said the information will not include names or Social Security numbers of the people covered by the fund.
“We just thought those going into the (program) may not be getting fair treatment,” Hawkins said.
Copyright Billings Gazette Jul 12, 2008
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