Salem — The City Council voted Dec. 4 to adopt a home-rule petition asking the state legislature to restore previously credited reserve and on-call service for Salem police officers and firefighters affected by a 2019 court ruling.

Members of the Salem Retirement Board urged the council to act. Robert Callahan, a retired Salem police captain and retirement-board member, said the board unanimously supports the petition on behalf of roughly 17 officers and firefighters who lost previously awarded service credit after the court ruling changed how reserve service counts toward retirement. ‘‘All of these officers…saw that they were going to be able to get their reserve time,’’ Callahan said, adding that the retirement board’s actuarial schedules already include the costs and the board expects to remain fully funded by 2032.

Paul Finland, executive director of the retirement board, said the petition mirrors a process used recently in Revere and that actuarial analysis submitted with the petition shows costs had been accounted for in the board’s funding schedule.

Councilors discussed the 2019 ruling and the $5,000 earnings threshold that courts had used to determine whether reserve-on-call service counted toward retirement. Councilor Atworth moved adoption of the order "for an act relative to the reserved time of public safety personnel in the city of Salem," and the council carried the motion by roll call vote.

The adoption authorizes the mayor to file a home-rule petition with the legislature seeking statutory permission to preserve the previously granted service credit for affected employees.

What’s next: The petition must be introduced at the state Legislature and is subject to the usual legislative process; the council’s action directs local officials to pursue that state-level remedy.

Sources: Public testimony from the Salem Retirement Board and roll-call action recorded in the Dec. 4 meeting minutes.