Dalton city employees stand up against proposal to remove pension benefits

Photo by Patrick Filbin / Dozens of Dalton city employees attend Monday's meeting to show support for each other and their employee pension plan.
Photo by Patrick Filbin / Dozens of Dalton city employees attend Monday's meeting to show support for each other and their employee pension plan.

Days before she became the unofficial voice for more than 100 city employees in Dalton, Georgia, Victoria Parker caught wind of a two-page resolution that immediately made her upset and "quite frankly, appalled."

The resolution was put on the City Council's agenda on Friday, three days before Monday's meeting, which is typical for city business, according to City Administrator Jason Parker.

The resolution was a way for the council to start the process of revamping the employee pension system and included a freeze of pension benefits for all city employees hired before 2002 starting on Dec. 31, 2021. That means for over 100 employees with the fire department, police department, public works, utilities and other city departments, pension benefits would no longer accrue starting at the beginning of 2022.

Parker, a lawyer in the Conasauga Circuit District Attorney's Office and the wife of a Dalton police officer, gave a passionate speech to the council at Monday night's meeting with over 50 city employees standing behind her in the chambers.

Parker said it is simply unfair to the employees who have dedicated years of their lives to the city who have worked hard for their pension benefits only to have it cut off to save the city money.

"They've given up anniversaries, birthdays, graduations and other very important family events to give that life of service to the city," Parker told the mayor and council. "When they signed up for the job, they were promised those benefits. You see a lot of faces in this room today. Before you saw these faces, I believe you were looking at dollar signs. These are the faces your dollar signs affect."

The city of Dalton offers employees pension benefits through a 457 retirement plan, similar to a 401(k). A 457 retirement plan is a plan available for governmental employers in the U.S. and is a deferred-compensation plan through which employers match employee savings. Of the nearly 400 city employees in Dalton, 105 are covered by the 457 plan.

The resolution was also designed and proposed to expand retirement benefits for other employees who were hired after 2002.

The resolution would essentially start the process of opening up benefits for newer employees the city has recently hired and will hire in the future. The expansion would offer benefits to newer employees who otherwise would not get them but in turn, freeze or get rid of benefits that were already on the books for employees who have been with the city for decades.

"Moving forward, for those new people coming in and may be here a long time as well, we want to make this a more attractive place to work," Councilman Dan Waugh said. "We also want to reward them for all the great things they're doing."

Gary Hill works for Dalton Utilities and is the chair of the city's pension board. He and many others were upset at how the resolution seemed to have come out of nowhere.

"When we were hired, we were told, 'This is what we're going to give you.' I understand the new employees coming in, I understand exactly," Hill said. "Totally two separate issues. You can get to [the new employees] later. I think we need to honor what was told to us. Some of our folks have been here 29, 30 years. They're going to get hammered on this thing."

Dalton Mayor David Pennington told the crowded room the resolution was only meant to start the process of looking into how the city would alter the pension program. Pennington met with Administrator Parker once before the resolution was placed on the agenda and a handful of other times with certain members of the staff about the changes.

Before the meeting started, the city announced the resolution was coming off the agenda and would not be voted on. The mayor and council agreed everyone involved needed more time to discuss the issue. The matter was tabled until further notice.

After the meeting, dozens of police officers, firefighters and other city employees personally thanked Victoria Parker for what she said and how she delivered her message.

Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.

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