An ordinance to increase payment from the Paducah Police and Firefighters’ Pension Fund by 2 percent to retirees did not pass at Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting. The ordinance failed by a 2 to 2 vote with one commissioner not present.
Commissioners Carol Gault and Richard Abraham voted to approve the increase. Abraham says Paducah’s police and firefighters are among the most deserving of increased support from the city’s budget.
“I believe those, these are our people,” Abraham said. “Whatever we can do, we can do. Now we spent a lot of money on things here that are questionable. I guess it dies, and that’s a shame. I think our, our retirees, they came to work every day and put it on the line deserve that extra forty bucks.”
Mayor Gayle Kaler and Commissioner Sandra Wilson dissented. Wilson says an additional four hundred thousand dollars was added last year to the over half million dollars already in the pension fund. Kaler says Paducah should only increase benefits if it can be done annually.
“What bothers me is that it was one time,” Kaler said. “It seems capricious for us to sit up here and give somebody a one-time increase. Either we do it every year or we don’t do it.”
