Ayotte pushes back on changes to first responder retirement plans

(The Center Square) — New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte criticized lawmakers for making last-minute changes to a plan to restore pension benefits for 1,500 first-responders who had them cut several years ago.

A House and Senate Committee of Conference late Wednesday approved changes to the two-year $15.9 billion state budget that restored retirement benefits for 1,500 police and firefighters who had them cut in 2011. The $120 million plan would boost first-responders’ benefits, but also sets a cap the amount of money that pensioners can collect at retirement,

But Ayotte said she opposes the changes, hammered out by a handful of lawmakers in closed-door meetings, saying the plan shortchanges the state’s first responders.

“We have a responsibility to take care of the men and women who have helped make New Hampshire the safest state in the nation,” the first-term Republican said in a statement. “The changes made to the budget today shirk that responsibility and continue the past mistake of not providing police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers the benefits they have earned.”

“We need a budget that serves all of New Hampshire, and this budget falls short of that promise,” Ayotte said.

Ayotte had pushed a plan as part of her preliminary budget proposal that would’ve cost the state $330 million for a full restoration of the 1,500 first-responders’ benefits.

But legislative leaders said the additional funding wasn’t available, with final revenue projections coming in about $30 million less than expected. The conference committee’s changes to the plan would also set a pension cap of $125,000 a year.

Under current law, some workers have no cap on how much their pensions pay out during retirement. Lawmakers said that allows pension “spiking” by some law enforcement officers during their last few years of service to boost their retirement benefits.

“This compromise provides $120 million for 1,550 Group II members for their retirement while protecting the New Hampshire Retirement System against the practices of the past, which brought it to the brink of bankruptcy,” Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, told NH Journal. “This budget serves all 1.3 million Granite Staters, as well as 1,550 of our first responders.”

But public sector unions representing first-responders blasted the revisions, saying they would force some workers to stay on the job longer to receive their benefits. They also criticized changes they said would eliminate overtime pay and other compensation for the 1,500 first-responders that normally count towards their final pension amount.

Brian Ryll, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire, said the union is “extremely disappointed” by the changes to the retirement plan.

“It is particularly surprising given that both the full House and Senate had previously given overwhelming support to the retirement reform package — only for the committee to now reverse course and override that bipartisan consensus,” he said in a statement. “This is not a package that we can support.”