New York State Comptroller Flatly Contradicts New Rochelle City Manager on Police Retirement Age

Written By: Robert Cox

The New York State Comptroller’s office has flatly contradicted claims made by the City Manager Charles B. Strome with regard to retirement age for New Rochelle police officers.

Strome has repeatedly claimed that retirement age for police officers in New Rochelle is set by the State of New York pension system.

The Comptroller, in a statement provided to Talk of the Sound on Friday, states that the retirement age for local police officers in New York State is set by the local municipality.

The issue came to the fore because Captain Joseph Schaller turned 62 last year. The New Rochelle City Code states that the retirement age for New Rochelle police officers is 62. Captain Kevin Kealy is also at or near retirement age.

The retirement age issue came to public attention this winter during the controversy over an attempt by the Police Commissioner to restructure the police department which Talk of the Sound has described as a pension padding scheme intended to circumvent civil service rules and place great discretionary power in the hands of the police commissioner while weakening police unions. In short, a power grab designed to reward friends and punish enemies of the Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll.

Between October 2012 and February 2013, Talk of the Sound did a significant amount of reporting on the attempt by New Rochelle officials to create the new civilian position of Assistant Police Commissioner. The impact of this reporting was a watershed vote by the City Council to reject City plans to reorganize the New Rochelle Police Department over the objections of Mayor Noam Bramson and City Manager Strome.

Bramson went so far as to classify the vote as a “Confidence Vote” for the City Manager.

Given the sensitive, complex nature of this issue, Talk of the Sound went to extraordinary lengths to gather information, obtain records under the New York State Freedom of Information Law, interview, sometimes repeatedly, City officials including the City Manager and members of City Council as well as New York State officials.

In attempting to set before the public what was and was not the actual plan, Talk of the Sound had extensive communications with City Manager Strome.

The result was the following article: New Rochelle to Reorganize Police Department, Captains To Become Assistant Police Commissioners

After the article was published Talk of the Sound sent an email to Strome asking him to to review the final article for accuracy.

“Looks accurate to me,” responded Strome.

That article includes a section of the issue of retirement age as it pertains to the three captains at the NRPD, Joseph Schaller, Kevin Kealy and Robert Gazzola.

There has been further speculation that the proposed changes were driven by considerations over the retirement age of Schaller and Kealy who are older than Gazzola.

“Mandatory retirement age was never part of the discussion,” said Strome who described the issue as “quite complicated”.

“To my knowledge, there are several different retirement systems,” said Strome. “384-d, the system the captains are currently in, requires retirement at 62 but if you stay longer you automatically moved into 384-j which allows you to stay until you are 65. There is no mandatory retirement age in the Employee Retirement System, the civilian pension system which is where they would move if this were implemented. In short, they can stay until they are 65 as Captains. With the proposed change, the could stay past 65 but I am sure neither would be staying past that age.”

In fact, the retirement age issue was a major factor in the proposed reorganization of the police department.

On February 19th, 2013, during the final City Council discussion before the vote, Council Member Jared Rice raised the issue of retirement age:

Rice asked a pointed question about the issue of retirement age for members of the police department. Strome implied that the decision on the retirement age of a member of the police department in New Rochelle was decided by the New York State pension system.

The full exchange is contained in the video of the meeting (above).

Strome has repeatedly contended that the retirement age in New Rochelle is determined by the New York State pension system despite what is described in the City Code.

§ 58-4 1B of the New Rochelle City Code states: “Each member of the police force shall retire upon reaching his 62nd birthday.”

Asked to square his position with § 58-4 1B, Strome has asserted that § 58-4 1B refers to an outdated local pension system that was made obsolete when New Rochelle police officers were moved to the New York State pension system.

On December 11, 2012 Strome said the issue of mandatory retirement age was “quite complicated and to get it right you would have to talk to the retirement system”.

At the February 19, 2013 meeting, when Council Member Rice asked about retirement age, Strome gave an answer referencing the “outdated” pension plan and the State’s age of 65. Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll stated the age of retirement for police is 70. Not even Strome has ever offered age 70 in reply to questions about the retirement issue.

Notably, City Attorney Kathleen Gill was silent throughout the exchange and never asked for a legal opinion.

Strome said he was “being as up front as possible” when it was clear that he was not being up front at all.

Talk of the Sound did contact the retirement system which is run by the New York State Comptroller’s office and received the following statement from Thomas DiNapoli’s office:

The New York State and Local Retirement System does not set mandatory retirement ages for any group of members. The normal retirement age [meaning the time that one can collect an unreduced benefit] is age 62 [or age 63 for Tier VI members] unless the member has 30 years of service, at which point they may collect an unreduced benefit at age 55 [does not apply to Tier VI members].

It should also be noted that most police officers are members of plans which allow for retirement when certain service criteria are met, regardless of age. For example, some police officers are in retirement plans that allow them to retire after 20 or 25 years of service.

To be clear, it is not up to the state to recommend or enforce that a member retire.

The Comptroller could not be more clear. The retirement age is set at the local level.

Just because New York State allowed for police officers to retire at 65 does not supersede the published age in the New Rochelle City Code. In other words, Home Rule governs.

Speaking off-the-record, an official within the Comptroller’s office said it does not matter that the City Code refers to an outdated local pension plan. If that is the only reference to retirement age then it carries the will of the present Council until it is modified.

Section 59 of the New Rochelle City Charter states that the Police Department “shall as to their membership and organization remain as now constituted until the same shall be changed by the Council.”

At this point, Schaller is approaching his 63rd birthday. Captain Kealy is at or near age 62.

This is a simple matter.

If the City Council wishes to change the retirement age to 63 or 65 or any other age they are free to do so. The logical legal step would be to remove any reference to the outdated police pension plan while passing a resolution to establish the retirement age for police officers apart from any reference to a pension plan.

Failing to do so — and so far they have not, despite being well aware of the issue — Schaller must retire (or be retired) immediately. Likewise, Kealy must retire at age 62.

That the City Manager and Police Commissioner continue to keep police officers past their 62nd birthday is to defy the will of the City Council and thus the will of the people who elected them.