Mount Kisco Voters to Decide on Raising Volunteers’ LOSAP Benefits
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Mount Kisco voters will decide in November whether to increase the maximum monthly payout under the Length of Service Awards Program (LOSAP) for longtime members of the village’s volunteer fire department and ambulance corps.
The pair of propositions, which will be on the ballot for the general election, would hike the benefit for eligible members of both emergency services from the current top monthly amount of $400 to $750. Members become eligible for the current maximum benefit once they reach 60 years old and have at least 20 years of service where they accumulated 50 service points.
Points are earned by answering calls, participating in drills and training, attending meetings and other responsibilities, said Village Manager Ed Brancati. Currently, there are 59 current or former fire department members receiving a benefit and four ambulance corps beneficiaries, he said.
Brancati explained that the village would contribute $30 a year for each member of both services instead of $20 should the propositions be approved. The village’s contribution toward the service in the annual budget for the fire department would increase by $10,000 to $262,000, Mayor Gina Picinich said.
Picinich said the board asked the Finance Committee to examine the numbers and determine whether the village could afford to provide the higher benefit without impacting taxpayers. At the proposed level of funding the committee concluded that the accounts would be solvent without affecting taxes until at least 2035, assuming a 4.5 percent annual return on the account where the money is held.
“So the objective here is to not have the taxpayers pick up that additional cost,” Picinich said.
The investment accounts are 105 percent funded for the fire department and about 140 percent funded for the ambulance corps, she said. Brancati and Village Treasurer Robert Wheeling studied the numbers and also concluded it would have no impact on tax rates, Picinich added.
If voters approve the resolutions, the extra $10 annual contribution per member would begin next Jan. 1. Brancati explained that next year the members receiving the current maximum benefit would not be bumped up, but if they are still serving and earn the requisite number of points each year, they would be able to increase their monthly payout by $10.
“It’s going to take some time,” Brancati said. “It’s not a retroactive (increase).”
Separate propositions are needed because if voters approve the change for the ambulance corps, it would lower the age that members can start receiving their benefit from 65 to 60 to keep it in line with the village’s firefighters.
Fire department leadership had appealed to the Village Board late last year to increase the maximum payout to have it stay reasonably competitive with surrounding communities. Mount Kisco currently has the lowest benefit in the immediate area with other departments offering $800 to $1,200 a month for a top payout.
“This isn’t any additional burden to the taxpayer through to 2035, at least, to provide the additional benefit the department is asking for, and we’re just asking for the support of the Village Board so it can go before the voters in November,” said David Kuritzky, principal officer for the Union Hook & Ladder Co.
The resolution authorizing the board to put the proposition on the ballot was approved 4-1.
Trustee Karen Schleimer, the dissenting vote, said she was concerned that the presumed 4.5 percent annual rate of return could be difficult to achieve given the current state of the stock market. When Schleimer asked how the investment accounts were doing over the past year, she was told they were down 14.75 percent, as of earlier this month.
“Something doesn’t make sense, so I need more time to evaluate it,” Schleimer said at the July 11 Village Board meeting, “and understanding we were put in a position, where you have two weeks to put it on the ballot and that’s all you get.”
Picinich said there was no discrepancy in the projections. The investments have earned an annual average rate of return of about 5.6 percent, which is over a long period of time, not over one year or one cycle.
Peter Hughes Jr., ex-captain of the Independent Fire Co., said he was offended by the suggestion that the department made a surprise request of the Village Board. An e-mail was sent last Dec. 28 to the board regarding the matter.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
