MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Employees wanting to come back to their jobs with the City of Memphis received good news on Tuesday.
Mayor Jim Strickland submitted a proposal to the City Council that would give them a chance to buy back into the city’s pension plan.
WREG obtained a copy of the proposal Mayor Jim Strickland handed out to council members during the committee meeting, and some people seemed to think it was a good idea.
“The problem is that police officers have left employment with the city and wanted to come back,” said Strickland.
The mayor said the Memphis Police Association came to him saying several former officers want to come back to the force.
“We have a new pension plan starting July 1, so the proposal we just presented to City Council would allow them to buy back into our current pension plan.”
The proposal would impact employees hired back by July 1.
It would allow them to buy back into the program within six months.
Under the current ordinance, employees must be reemployed for two years before becoming eligible to buyback into the pension plan.
“I don`t think that this is going to get hundreds of employees back, but hopefully it gets many and helps us along the way of getting more police officers on the streets,” said Mayor Strickland.
That’s something Interim Police Director Mike Rallings has been been outspoken about for weeks.
“If it helps us to get some officers back and good quality officers back, I`m all for it.”
Thomas Malone with the Memphis Fire Fighters Association said he supports anything that would help bring back qualified firefighters who left and went to other cities.
“I think it`s just a commonsense plan because anybody should be able to buy back their time that they`ve come back to. It`s good for the pension system. It`s good for the employee,” he said.
