Councilman Joe Bartenfelder said last week that 10 years ago he wanted to cap county pensions to council members at 60 percent -- but could find no support for the idea.

He'd like to try it again.

"Now, it looks bigger than life and it's staring you right in the face," he said.

The council's pension structure -- 100 percent for members who leave office after five terms -- became a hot-button issue last week after The Baltimore Sun reported that Democratic Councilman Vince Gardina will, in 2010, become the first council member ever to retire with a pension equal to 100 percent of his $54,000 annual salary.

Gardina, 54, will be eligible to collect that pension immediately after he retires.

The council's pension structure has been in place since the 1950s, when the county first adopted its present form of government.

A decade ago, the council adjusted how pensions are calculated for county executives who also served on the council. That issue arose because of the rare situation involving then-county executive Dutch Ruppersberger.

At that time, Bartenfelder, who served three terms in the House of Delegates, wanted to cap council pensions at 60 percent -- similar to what state legislators receive, but "there was absolutely zero sentiment to do anything about it," he said.

It's not clear if Bartenfelder would have enough support to cap council pensions now.

Gardina, who represents a district that stretches from Perry Hall to Towson, said he would support pension caps -- if council members' base salary went up.

"I think with a county this big and with some of the contentious and complicated issues we have to deal with, our base pay should be higher," he said.

Gardina said he would support a two-thirds of salary pension cap if the salary were raised to $65,000 per year.

"It's not a part-time job for any of us," he said. "I do a lot of things, and when you add them all together it's a significant amount of time. There are some weeks I work 30 hours a week, and that's the least I work, and other weeks when it's 50 hours a week."

Messages left for the other five councilmen were not returned.

Even if a majority of council members supported a pension cap now, the changes would not likely affect current members.

"I still think something needs to happen," Bartenfelder said. "Whether it happens now or when a new council comes in, it really doesn't matter."

Gardina is the first councilman to serve five terms on the council -- and thus the first to qualify for the 100 percent benefit.

Bartenfelder and councilmen Kevin Kamenetz and Sam Moxley, both Democrats, and Bryan McIntire, a Republican, are four-term members.

If they were to step down at the end of their fourth term, they would be eligible to receive 80 percent of their salary.

Of those, only McIntire has announced his intention to seek a fifth term. Bartenfelder announced he is running for county executive and Kamenetz is also expected to run for executive.

Moxley has made no public announcements on his political future.

Keith Dorsey, director of the county's Office of Budget and Finance, said the council pension amounts are an insignificant portion of the county's $1.7 billion pension program.

The program is structured to handle the council pension, and in fact Bartenfelder noted that if the council pension is reduced, the amount council members pay into it would be reduced, too.

Currently, council members contribute about 14 percent of their salary to the retirement fund -- two to three times what most county employees pay into their pension plans.

"You wouldn't expect to pay more into a system that you were getting less out of," Bartenfelder said.

The pensions were the hot topic on talk radio stations in Baltimore last week.

Some council aides said the number of calls to offices had not risen, but most calls were from people upset about the pension issue.

Steve Bailey and Joe Seehusen, co-chairmen of the Baltimore County chapter of Americans for Prosperity -- a group supporting smaller government and which organized tax protest tea parties in the state -- applauded Bartenfelder's willingness to reopen the pension issue.

But Seehusen said the council should have a limited role in fixing the problem.

"The last thing we want is a political solution to a political problem," he said.

Bailey and Seehusen said they hope the council would welcome public input on any possible pension fix.

"There's been a lack of leadership at the council level and we'd like to see the public have a role in helping find the solution," Bailey said.

"It's inherently unfair to say it could never bust our budget so it's not important," he said.

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user comments (2)

user says...

I (steve Bailey) for one, am willing to help Councilman Bartenfelder find the support that he needs in order to enact meaningful pension reform this year. As the co-chairman of the Baltimore County chapter of Americans for Prosperity, Joe Seehusen and I have started a process of reaching out to members of the council to enlist their support for this change. Last night councilman McIntyre told members of the Baltimore County Northeast Republican club that he supports pension reform. Unfortunately, this article demonstrates that at least one member of the council, Vince Gardina, will be more difficult to persuade. Councilman Gardina is set to retire from the council next year and immediately begin to collect a $54,000 a year pension for life. Gardina's position that he will only support pension reform (100% reduced to 66% for life) if the salaries for county council is raised to $65,000 is outrageous. Does he need to be reminded that according to the social security administration, the average social security recipient receives a monthly benefit of only $1,062, an amount four times less than his pension for a part-time job. These same Baltimore County seniors have already been told that once again they will recieve no cost of living adjustment next year. What about military retirees, police or firefighters who only receive a 50% pension after working in a full-time position for twenty years? These dedicated public servants have had their health and retirement benefit packages reduced in recent years. Councilman Gradina and any of his colleagues who may agree with his position need to hear from all of us loud and clear that the culture of entitlement needs to end NOW. Americans for Prosperity invites all of our fellow citizens, who share our outrage at these pensions and excuses, to join us at the County Council meeting that will take place Monday evening November 16 at 7:00 PM at 400 Washington Avenue in Towson (the old Courthouse). Before the meeting (6:30 - 7:00 PM) any citizen may sign up to speak for 2 minutes on any topic at the conclusion of the meeting. I think that we need to let councilman Gardina and the other members of the council know how we really feel about this issue. I'm sure that with a large enough turnout we can build support for changing/abolishing the council's pension system.

Posted 10:02 AM, 10.28.09

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user davidmarks1 says...

Outstanding response, Steve!

Posted 5:12 PM, 10.28.09

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