Supervisor Scott Russell is calling for a 24-month limit on disability benefits payable to police officers.
In his “State of the Town” speech last week, Russell came out against state disability laws he says put an undue burden on municipalities forced to pay police officers out on disability their full pay indefinitely.
“Twenty-four months should be sufficient for an officer to determine whether he can come back to work,” Russell said. “And if he can’t, then he should retire.”
In his speech before an audience largely consisting of town department heads, the supervisor cited — by name — two town police officers who’ve been out on disability for several years, one since 2010 and another since 2012.
The town is obligated to keep them on payroll at their full wages — which by state law are not taxable, Russell said.
The town’s costs of carrying the two officers on the payroll have now topped $3 million, the supervisor said. Obligations like this have made budgeting within the tax cap untenable, he said.
“The governor likes to talk about property taxes, but what he should really focus on is public employee payrolls. I’m not saying public employees are overpaid, because they are not. But things like the disability system are making it very difficult for municipalities,” he said.
Russell also called for a change in the obligation of the town concerning officers placed on light duty.
“If someone is injured but can work light duty, towns can create positions considered light duty,” Russell said. “The theory is that they can work light duty until they are healed and go back to full duty. The problem is that the person is entitled to keep the position even if their injury never fully heals and they are never able to return to full duty.”
He said the law prevents the town from eliminating that light-duty position unless it’s vacated by the officer either by retirement or death.
“What is a viable short-term solution turns into essentially adding a long-term paid position,” Russell said. “It’s like adding an officer to the payroll without the benefit of full-duty.”
A representative of the Southold Police Benevolent Association did not respond to a request for comment.
