Lakeville Fire Relief Association asks council to approve pension-vesting and trustee compensation changes
Loading...
Summary
The Lakeville Fire Relief Association presented recommended changes to its pension vesting schedule and proposed modest compensation for two trustee positions. The board said the pension fund is well-funded and that changes are intended to align benefits with modern staffing and to avoid creating city budget exposure.
Representatives of the Lakeville Fire Relief Association presented the council with three items: a proposed change to the pension vesting schedule, a request to compensate two trustee positions on the relief board, and a preliminary discussion about moving from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution model in the longer term.
Dan Kwong, president of the Fire Relief Association, said the relief fund is “very healthy” and that consultants had run the numbers on a proposed vesting adjustment. Kwong said the adjustment aims to “right size the funding level” and to avoid a sharp benefit “haircut” for paid-on-call firefighters who convert to full-time positions. He also told council the current long-tenure reality for many paid-on-call members has changed and that the proposed change reflects modern recruitment and retention dynamics.
The association told council nine current paid-on-call members are expected to convert to full-time status; the relief association said the existing vesting schedule (described in the presentation as “05/20”) would create inequities for those employees and for future transitions. The association asked the city to place the vesting change on a council agenda for formal approval after the relief association’s membership votes.
On trustee compensation, the association said current board pay practices compensate the treasurer and secretary ($3,000 each annually) and compensate the president and vice president ($1,000 each annually), but that two trustees who serve and shoulder major board tasks historically have not been paid. The relief association requested council approval to compensate those trustees; the board said the payments would come from the association’s special fund and that state rules require municipal approval if trustees receive pay.
Association leaders also told council they are exploring longer-term changes to the retirement model, including converting some active-member funds into defined-contribution accounts to remove the city’s long-term funded-liability exposure. Association leaders said that conversation is preliminary and informational at this point and said they will return with more detailed proposals and actuarial analysis.
Outcome and next steps: Association leaders said they would hold an internal membership vote and return to council for formal approval; the council placed the request on an upcoming agenda for consideration. Council members expressed support for a careful transition plan and asked the association to expedite the membership vote to meet the council’s calendar needs.
Why this matters: The relief association’s proposals affect firefighter retirement benefits and the city’s long-term pension exposure; the vesting and compensation changes are administrative but have budgetary and personnel consequences for individual firefighters and the city’s employer role. The association emphasized the fund’s current health and framed the changes as safeguards for members and to align benefit design with modern staffing patterns.
