Riverhead approves voluntary retirement incentives for 53 eligible town employees

The Riverhead Town Board has approved voluntary retirement incentive agreements with three town employee unions, formalizing a cost-cutting measure Supervisor Jerry Halpin first floated in May.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to ratify stipulations with CSEA Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, Riverhead Unit of Suffolk Local 852; the Riverhead Town Superior Officers Association; and the Riverhead Town Police Benevolent Association.

Fifty-three town employees are eligible for the incentives: 29 CSEA members, 18 PBA members and six members of the Superior Officers Association, Financial Administrator Jeannette DiPaola said in an email Thursday.

DiPaola said the town is hoping to save between $500,000 and $800,000 through the incentives, depending on which eligible employees choose to participate. She said all positions vacated through the incentive program are expected to be refilled.

The agreements offer cash incentives to eligible employees who submit irrevocable resignation letters by Sept. 1 and retire no later than Oct. 1.

The CSEA agreement provides eligible employees with a lump-sum payment of $12,500, less applicable taxes and withholdings, in addition to any severance benefits they are otherwise entitled to under the union contract.

The police union agreements provide larger incentives. Eligible members of the Superior Officers Association and Police Benevolent Association will receive a lump-sum payment of $1,000 for each year of town service, plus a payment equal to the value of up to 30 additional accrued sick days beyond the maximum sick-leave payout otherwise allowed under the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

The additional sick-day payment for police employees will be calculated using the average of the employee’s base salary for 2024, 2025 and 2026, according to the stipulations.

The eligibility requirements for the two police unions are substantively identical. To qualify, employees must have been employed by the town as of June 1, must be eligible to retire into the New York Police and Fire Retirement System, and must have the required 20 years of law enforcement service in New York State.

CSEA employees must be eligible to retire into the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System as fully vested Tier IV members.

Employees are not eligible for the incentive if they had already submitted a separation letter as of June 1, are separating under another agreement or state incentive program, or have been notified by the town that they are or may be subject to formal disciplinary action during the 2026 fiscal year.

The agreements also state that employees who accept the incentive will be eligible for town-provided retiree health insurance only if they otherwise meet the preexisting legal and contractual eligibility requirements for that benefit.

DiPaola said the specific incentives approved Tuesday are “very similar” to the proposals discussed publicly in May, but “not exactly the same,” so the range of savings is not exactly the same as what was discussed then.

She declined to provide an estimated gross cost if all eligible employees accept the incentives, saying the number of eligible employees is slightly different from the town’s earlier estimate and she would prefer to wait until the town knows which employees opt in.

“I prefer to wait and see which employees opt to take the incentive and provide real numbers once all are known,” DiPaola said.

The fiscal impact statements attached to all three resolutions say the agreements will have no fiscal impact. DiPaola said the resolutions were added to the agenda packet late and she did not have a chance to update the fiscal impact statements or add comments.

She said the fiscal impact section is normally used to identify a negative fiscal impact — an expenditure — rather than savings to the town.

There will be one-time severance payouts to employees who take the incentives, but those are payments the town is already obligated to make whenever eligible employees retire, DiPaola said. The town will also have to make the incentive payments to participating employees.

The savings will come from refilling vacated positions with lower-salaried employees at higher New York State retirement tiers, DiPaola said. She said that should result in savings for the rest of 2026 and for the full 2027 budget year.

Halpin first raised the possibility of voluntary retirement incentives in May, saying the town was looking for ways to reduce costs without layoffs. At the time, officials said the incentive could encourage some senior employees to retire, allowing the town to fill positions at lower salaries or, in some cases, leave positions vacant.

“We’ll see how the finances of this play out” over the next few weeks, Council Member Ken Rothwell said Tuesday.

The incentives expire if eligible employees do not submit irrevocable resignation letters by Sept. 1 and retire by Oct. 1.