Northport City Council Approves Changes To Employee Benefits

NORTHPORT, AL. — City of Northport employees will soon see some positive changes to their retirement benefits, after the Northport City Council unanimously voted in favor of providing Tier I benefits to Tier II plan members.

Council President and outgoing District 2 Councilman Jay Logan said the move is the result of conversations had by the current council for some time.

Council votes were cast on the resolution during a special called meeting at Northport City Hall Tuesday.

"I know it's one item of opportunity that the council over the last few months has tried to address and add some value to our employee benefits package," he said.

City of Northport Human Resources Director Joseph Rose explained the primary changes as employees will have access to the benefits immediately.

"This resolution ... will allow Tier II employees to have access to the same benefits for their retirement package as the Tier I employees," he said. "It cuts their retirement time down."

For example, those with Tier I benefits under the Retirement System of Alabama are eligible to retire at any age with 25 or more years of service or at age 60 with 10 or more years of service.

Conversely, Tier II employees, according to RSA, are eligible to retire at age 62 with 10 or more years of service or age 56 for state police and certified, full-time firefighters and law enforcement officers.

Rose also said Tier II employees in the past were not able to use their current sick leave for service credit, which will change after the Council approved the resolution Tuesday.

"The cost to the city is around $100,000 annually," he said. "That will be a mix of Tier II increased employee contributions, along with an employer match increase on Tier I and Tier II. There is, at the current time, no increase for the Tier I employees."

Additionally, Logan pointed out that deductions will not start occurring until Oct. 1, 2021 and Rose said the city would receive a new actuarial analysis at the end of May 2021 with the updated numbers.

The motion to approve the resolution under suspended rules came from District 3 Councilman John Hinton and was seconded by District 4's Robby Davis, before being passed unanimously by the full council.

Logan praised the work of the Council in passing the changes to employee benefits and spoke to the scope of the decision.

"This is just not our first responders, this is the man or woman that just got hired on last year as a public works employee who may be Tier II, so this is not just for law enforcement, these are all Tier II employees," he said. "This is a very good day for the city, in my opinion."