City police departments say now they can keep your family safer and save you money because of a bill the governor of Kentucky signed into law this month.
City police departments can hire retired officers and not worry about paying into a second retirement. Kentucky law says that officers are not allowed to double dip on retirement pensions.
If Benton city hired a retired officer verses someone else, the city would save an estimated $24,000 per year from that one pension.
Sen. Danny Carroll was one of the bill’s sponsors. Carroll says the concept already applied to county and state law enforcement agencies. He says the law gives all agencies the same opportunity.
Pension payments make up 32 percent of the Benton Police Department’s budget.