A respected economic think tank is urging support for Westport police union members and cautioning against the negative impact of efforts to scale back pension benefits.

In a blog post published by the Economic Policy Institute of Washington, D.C., staff economist Monique Morrissey said the national trend for slashing benefits could prove harmful in Westport, where the police union, Local 2080 of AFSCME Council 4, is in pension arbitration with the town.

“Why would Westport mess with a system that works? The police department is tiny and the town can easily afford the benefits. In the 2015-2016 fiscal year, spending on police pensions amounted to just 1.2 percent of the town’s revenues, so even drastic benefit cuts wouldn’t noticeably affect anyone’s tax bill. Westport’s property tax rate is already among the lowest in the state, though taxes are high in dollar terms as would be expected for a wealthy town in a high cost of living area,” Morrissey writes.

Morrissey notes that Westport police officers do not receive Social Security and do not have overtime factored into their final pensions. She frames efforts to reduce Westport police pensions as part of “an ideological campaign” to get rid of pensions in favor of riskier 401(k)-style savings plans. It’s the kind of campaign, she warns, that could backfire as municipalities start to restore benefits in an effort to prevent losing experienced officers.

 “The 64 members of the Westport police department, who signed on for what they thought was a career of public service that would be rewarded with a secure retirement, may still pay a price, unless the citizens of Westport realize that that the police force they have come to rely on may be torn apart by shortsighted pension ‘reforms,’” Morrissey observes.

Click here to read Morrissey’s full blog piece.

Media Contact: Larry Dorman, Council 4, [email protected]