/wp:image
wp:paragraph
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Full-time firefighters with the Taylor-Snowflake Fire and Medical Department (TSFMD) may have the option of joining the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (APSPRS) as the result of a resolution the Taylor Town Council approved on March 7.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Town Manager Gus Lundberg told the council, “By you approving the resolution, you are authorizing me to sign the joinder agreement, but we still need to have five employees sign up in order to qualify.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Currently, all the full-time employees with the TSFMD have been a part of Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS), which requires both employee and the town to contribute money into the fund for the employee. After five years in the system, the employee is vested with 20 percent of the money put in by the town. With each successive year after that, the employee continues to receive an additional 20 percent vesting until they reach 100 percent vesting at 10 years.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Lundberg said, “If the employee decides to switch to any other state system, the money the town has put into ASRS stays in ASRS, but the money the employees have put in will be theirs. There is no pressure for the employees to make that change.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Within the APSPRS is a “killed in the line of duty” death benefit that insures the surviving spouse receives the first responder’s paycheck for the rest of their life. There is also specific cancer benefit because of the chemical exposures from fire.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“This is a one-time opportunity for our first responder employees to join the APSPRS,” continued Lundberg. “After we have met the five employee requirement, any new employee of the TSFMD will be enrolled in the APSPRS. From what I have seen it will not cost the town any additional money to get these employees transferred over.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The council unanimously passed the resolution.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Rhonda Krouse, administrative assistant with TSFMD, requested that the council amend the TSFMD Certificate of Necessity. “We would like to amend the type of service by adding inter-facility transports, which are transports called in by Summit Healthcare to transport patients off the mountain to different hospital facility locations.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Krouse went on to assure the council that by adding this new type of service it would not impact patient care or the financial stability of the department. “This transport service is a win-win for us as it is a guaranteed payment. We will still be third on the list with Show Low and Timber Mesa Emergency Medical Services before us.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The council voted unanimously to approve the amendment.
/wp:paragraph
