Council backs home-rule request to offer optional 25-year retirement plan to two firefighters

The Binghamton City Council on May 7 approved a resolution authorizing a home-rule request that would allow the city to offer an optional 25-year retirement plan to two firefighters, identified in the transcript as Dave Edwards and Scott Pevlick. The resolution passed by a 7-0 roll-call vote.

Council member Kavanaugh said the firefighters' retirement plans were "screwed up at some point" and that the firefighters' union coordinated with state leadership and city officials to resolve the matter. Council members said the action implements a strategy to prevent similar problems in the future.

The resolution was described in the meeting as a local home-rule request (listed in the legislation as RL25-88 and introductory RR25-27); the transcript did not include the home-rule request's full text, nor did it record a state response. The council adopted the request to authorize the optional retirement offering for the named firefighters.