No Retirement Incentive -- Yet

Town employees have until today to decide whether to take .

But the Legislative Council has yet to sign off on those incentives, and won't until next Monday, leaving some town employees uncertain what to do as they had been waiting for the council's action before deciding whether to take the retirement incentive.

The council held a special meeting Monday after its regular council committee meetings, during which it went into executive session to discuss Jackson's proposed retirement incentive geared to plug a $1.2 million hole in the current budget.

Several dozen town employees filled the Thornton Wilder Auditorium at the Miller Memorial Library complex and waited during the committee meetings for the special meeting on the retirement incentives. But at the start of that meeting, council president Judi Kozak announced that the council would not be voting on it that night. Instead, she said, they would discuss it and vote at next week's council meeting.

Whether that July 31 deadline would hold in light of the council's lack of approval wasn't clear Monday night.

One resident said he wanted the council to carefully consider the proposal before signing off on it.

"The thing that bothers me is if this happens -- and it looks like it would be difficult to go any other way -- it will add to the pension commitment by some dollars, probably about $5,000 to $6,000 each retiree," said Shepard Avenue resident George Levinson. "So $60,000 in savings today might generate as much as $200,000 in liabilities down the road -- I think that's the wrong way to go.

"That's how we got into this mess," he said, "not just Hamden but nationally by balancing today's budget by promising more tomorrow."