By STEVE PRISAMENT
Staff Writer 

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – A move by the municipality to offer buyouts to longtime employees has been thwarted, for now, by the state pension board.

Meeting in closed session following a meeting Tuesday, May 27, Township Council heard arguments from the New Jersey Department of the Treasury Division of Pensions and Benefits against the governing body’s plan, which would offer cash incentives to encourage the resignations of municipal employees with 20 or 25 years of service.

A resolution passed unanimously by Township Council at its Tuesday, May 13 meeting allowed the township to offer incentives to employees to “voluntarily separate employment.”

“This is something that we’re being forced into by the state,” Mayor Tom Bassford said. “As we deal with capped spending and taxation, we have to look at reductions of service. And that means people.”

While one portion of the state government wants the workers off current payrolls, another segment doesn’t appear ready to welcome them into the retirement community.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Bassford said Wednesday, May 28. “Anyone we were offering this to would have retired in a year or two anyway.”

Township Manager Jill Gougher was preparing a presentation of the plan for two unions that would have been able to offer it to their eligible membership.

She said it was up to the unions “to offer it to the eligible employees.”

“Eligible employees are defined as any full-time employees who are members of the Police and Fire Retirement System with 20 or more years of pensionable service and full-time employees who are members of the Public Employee Retirement System with over 25 years of pensionable service,” Gougher explained.

The township had planned to offer those leaving on or before July 1 $1,000 for each year of service. Those leaving by Aug. 1 would get $700 for each year of service. Those who leave by Sept. 1 would get $500 for each year’s employment, and those who leave by Oct. 1 would get $300 for each year of service.

Those participating in the program would have received their sick, vacation and comp time in accordance with the union contracts, Gougher said.

According to Bassford, the council acted Tuesday to rescind the offer.

“We’ll have to do some research,” the mayor said. “We need to know exactly what the pension board’s opposition is based on.”

He said there may be options the township wouldn’t find acceptable.

“We may have to open the offer to all employees,” Bassford said. “We’d have to look at that very carefully. I’m not sure we’d want to do that.”