Administration recommends switching employee deferred‑compensation provider to Lincoln Financial; fees cited as driver

Monroe Township administration told the council June 30 it recommends switching the township’s voluntary deferred‑compensation plan from Empower to Lincoln Financial to reduce fees and broaden investment options for employees.

In public comment, resident Bob Valentine asked for a summary of the proposed revision to resolution R62025-146, which adopts a revised deferred‑compensation plan. Administrator McGowan replied, “We have had Empower as our employees deferred compensation provider for a number of years. Several employees actually reached out to us to see if we could, go out and look for a better plan that had lower fees for the employees and a better return on investment, better options for investment. So we did so. We gave Empower an opportunity to give us a more competitive plan. We also gave a few other companies an opportunity to do so. And, together with our deferred compensation consultants, we, the administration is recommending to the council to, move forward with this plan from Lincoln Financial, which provides a much lower fee for our employees and gives them a wider range of investment opportunities.”

Key points: Staff emphasized the plan is optional and funded from employee accounts — not taxpayer dollars. “This is optional for employees, and fees come out of employee investments. So there's no taxpayer dollars that's being spent here and no requirement to be a part of the program, but a number of our employees do so to supplement their pension for later retirement funds,” McGowan said.

Public availability: A resident also asked whether the audit corrective-action plan would be posted; staff said the corrective action plan will be available on the township website. The deferred‑compensation change was listed among the consent agenda resolutions that the council considered during the meeting.