Paterson Vetoes Raising NYPD's Retirement Age; Proposed Jump to 65

Governor Paterson has vetoed a bill that would have increased the maximum retirement age for members of the NYPD from 63 to 65.

GOVERNOR PATERSON: Cites disparity with Troopers.

The bill, which passed the State Senate unanimously, was vetoed because of the conflicting city requirement and the State Trooper age cap of 60. "There is much value that an employer can gain from older individuals who desire to work, and who possess experience and institutional memory," the Governor wrote Sept. 25 in his veto message. "Increasing longevity and medical advances also provide good reason for carefully reviewing the state's current age limitations on officers, to ensure that they are warranted. Nonetheless, this bill is significantly flawed.

"It imposes a cookie-cutter approach on a host of state and local police forces, from those employed by the New York City Police Department to the Metropolitan Transit Authority to the Department of Environmental Conservation," the veto stated. "In short, the bill has implications for tens of different and uniquely situated employers, each of which may be affected in a different manner."

Need Time to Study Change

The Governor cited as an example that the State Police had just increased its age requirement to 60. If this legislation was approved, the maximum age would jump another five years without any time to assess how the last increase affected the workforce. He expressed concern about extending payments to officers injured in the line of duty. "This bill would allow these officers — even if they are performing no work at all — to have their active tenure extended at full salary," he stated.

"This bill would also generate enormous confusion," the Governor went on. "It leaves all mandatory retirement statutes on the books, and then overturns them in a separate provision. An individual seeking to learn the mandatory retirement age of a State Trooper, for example, would find it is still listed in statute at 60, with no indication that the provision is inoperative."

Amid a host of vetoes, Mr. Paterson approved a bill that will allow officers participating in a plan under the Retirement and Social Security Law to continue in that plan until age 65. This law is not supposed to have any impact on contributions from employers. It also allows municipalities to decide the retirement age.

In his veto of the change in retirement age, Governor Paterson said, "I will continue to carefully review legislative efforts to meet the needs of older officers who wish to continue serving the public. I cannot, however, approve this bill, which is overly broad in its application, and fails to address the potential pitfalls of an across-the-board increase in the mandatory police retirement age."