City councilors voted unanimously at a meeting on Monday, April 3, in favor of upgrading the pension system to lower the retirement age for some Cape Girardeau employees.
Wardens and communicators are reclassified to the Department of Public Safety from General Employees of the Local Government Pension Plan — Missouri Local Government Employees’ Retirement System (LAGERS). The reclassification lowers the potential retirement age from her 60 to his 55, putting him on par with a police officer.
The move requires a one-time payment of $125,000 at an estimated annual cost of $13,000. Members of the city council voted last fall to allocate a portion of the city’s U.S. Relief Plan Act funds to cover his one-time costs.
sign up for daily headlines
Get daily updates first thing in the morning.
Retiree upgrades are expected to be a recruitment and retention method. The Cape Girardeau Police Department has been severely short of guards since the pandemic. Police Chief Wes Blair said in his March presentation to the council that nine out of 12 guard positions are open.
A shortage of prison officers forced the department to withdraw officers from patrols to conduct regular checks of the city’s prisons, leaving the department unable to hold federal prisoners and a lost source of income. The department needs eight to ten guards to hold these prisoners.
Police officers also cited salaries as a reason for the shortage. City prison officers now earn $1 less an hour than Cape Girardeau County.
In September, city council members voted unanimously to upgrade the municipality’s LAGERS plan to L-6, the highest level in the system. At the time, city officials and city council members touted the move as helping job hunters and honoring current employees.
