Pension Changes Coming to City Employees, Officials

After former Kennesaw Mark Mathews vetoed an earlier city council proposal to phase out pensions for all elected officials, a compromise agreement may soon become law.

The council voted unanimously Monday to continue the process to change the pension vesting rules for everyone who works for the city or is elected by voters, the Marietta Daily Journal reports.

Under the proposed guidelines, elected officials would have to wait four years before they became fully vested in the plan, while regular city employees would be vested after five years.

The current guidelines allow elected officials immediate vesting, while employees must wait 10 years to get in on the plan.

The council voted on July 6 to discontinue the practice of providing pensions and benefits to future elected officials, with council members Leonard Church and Tim Killingsworth opposing the measure.

Mathews vetoed the phase-out on July 13, saying he didn’t want to bar future council members from having the right to choose to accept the pension. Mathews proposed a system where both elected officials and city employees would vest after five years.

Councilwoman Cris Eaton-Welsh, who championed the phase-out measure, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that council members don’t have to pay into the plans, while regular city employees have to.