The Virginian-Pilot
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PORTSMOUTH
In a move to help financially strapped retirees, the City Council voted Tuesday to give $1,083 checks to former workers whose city benefits fall below the poverty line.
Eighty-one retirees qualify for the one-time supplement, which amounts to a total of about $88,000.
Council members pushed for the payments to help retirees most affected by a reduction in their city pension due to their Social Security payments.
The Social Security offset affects only those who remained on the supplemental retirement system when the city switched to the state's retirement plan. Some of those retirees say they didn't understand the implications of the choice.
The offset reduces a city pension by one half of the retiree's Social Security benefit. It also effectively erases cost-of-living increases in many cases.
The council authorized the $1,083 payments on a 7-0 vote. The amount is 10 percent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2009 poverty guidelines.
To qualify, the city's finance staff searched for retirees, their widows or widowers whose city pension benefits fell below $10,083.
That calculation didn't include other potential sources of income, such as a part-time job or other investments.
"It's entirely possible somebody's reaping a windfall, but given the relatively small number of retirees and knowing personally who some of them are, I don't believe that is going to happen," Councilman Steve Heretick said.
The city is funding the payments with extra money set aside for the new courthouse complex.
On a larger scale, council members also want to fully restore the Social Security offset, an expense that would cost about $1.9 million annually.
City Manager Kenneth Chandler said he had not yet identified a way to pay for that request.
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retirees
Those retirees worked hard for years for low pay and should not be shortchanged just because they are too old to work. This reminds me of a story about the Transportation Department. In the 1970s or 1980s, some of the workers were paid so poorly that they qualified for food stamps. This issue was considered shameful.
The politician Henry Howell spoke up for them. But he was able only to get their salaries raised just enough to get them off food stamps. Considering the "change" in their status, they were supposed to have told him that his stance in their favor actually lowered their standard of living because they were no longer able to get food stamps for their families.
Hello i say no to the
Hello i say no to the increase for retired employee's i work for the city and the can't even afford to pay their own employee's. This city is has had myself an others work in positions for months thinking we were gonna get paid once the budget change an when it did they came with the policy change so they wasn't gonna pay their employee's well guess what the policy hasn't change an it's been addressed to the highest chain of command an all we get told is don' say anything or our job is on the line I say this city needs better city leaders out with the old in with the new.
Something doesn't sound
Something doesn't sound right with that story. If the city fails to pay you, that is a federal violation, and you could hang them out to dry. There has to be more to the story
What? Are you saying the
What? Are you saying the city works you but doesn't provide a paycheck or what? I would like to hear you clarify this a bit.
Hey city council
I fall below the poverty line and received my car tax bill today. Can I just not pay it? Didn't think so.
No bonus for retirees when the taxpayers are suffering.
Fiscal Responsibility for Council Members
These people took early retirement with a larger pension for all those years. In real life, SS offset is a fact. A vote to increase pension will cost you votes. Unfunded COLAs are a betrayal of Portsmouth taxpayers and a slap at all people who work for private companies and have to manage their own retirements.
This will not be forgotten. If you vote for this, it might backfire Bill, Doug, and Marlene. I am ready for OB Wilson to be on Council. He is a fine man without a business agenda. Know what I mean?