Some get them, some don't: Some towns offer plans, while others give nothing

When Seymour First Selectman Robert Koskelowski leaves office next month, he'll be taking little with him, aside from his colleagues' good wishes.

That's because the town doesn't offer its top elected official anything in the way of a pension.

"I'm getting nothing else other than a handshake," said Koskelowski, a Republican who has served as first selectman since 2003, and before that held the post from 1983 to 1993.

The only benefit Koskelowski is entitled to is payment for his unused vacation time, Finance Director Doug Thomas said. Unused sick and personal time is not reimbursable, he said.

Recently, the Board of Selectmen voted to allow Koskelowski to remain under the town's life insurance program, provided he pays the cost of his coverage. He asked the board to allow him to continue to carry $50,000 worth of coverage at his cost.

"I'm 65 and would like to have enough money to bury me when that happens," he told the board. But if it were to become a political issue, he said, he would "drop the issue." The board unanimously agreed to the proposal, which would be available to all future departing first selectmen who have served at least two terms.

Selectman Paul Roy, who defeated Koskelowski in the recent elections and will be sworn in as first selectman next month, abstained from the vote since he would become eligible for the benefit should he win a second term of office.

The action, though, did not pass without objection

from one member of the Board of Finance who attended the selectmen's meeting. Michele Pavlik objected to the approval since the selectmen did not get public input before making the decision.

While Koskelowski will pay the premium for his coverage, there will be administrative costs since the town will have to bill him, Pavlik argued. But the selectmen approved the proposal, saying that cost would be miniscule and that after 18 years in office Koskelowski deserved the accommodation.

Before her own board this week, Pavlik proposed formalizing a policy that would mandate a charge to cover those costs.

Another outgoing first selectman also is leaving empty-handed. In Monroe, having served only one two-year term, outgoing First Selectman Thomas Bucci isn't eligible for any kind of payout.

He did shelter income by investing in a retirement fund, he said, and will receive the value of that account.

But it's a different story for departing Trumbull First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin Jr. His eight years in office is two short for full vesting into the town's pension program, finance officials there said, but he is eligible for a pension when he turns 62 next year.

Then he will receive about $1,000 a month, in addition to his $600 monthly pension from his time as a town police officer, finance officials said, though final figures have not yet been calculated.

There is no other payout due Baldwin for any vacation, sick or compensatory time, town Finance Director Lynn Heim said.

Stratford officials declined to release information about whether defeated Mayor James R. Miron is owed compensation for unused sick and vacation days, or whether the single-term official qualifies in any way for a pension when he leaves office Dec. 14, despite several verbal and written requests to the mayor and Human Resources Director Edmund Winterbottom.

"I am advised that Human Resources should treat this (Connecticut Post) e-mail as an FOI request and review the documentation which may be available to fulfill it. We will advise you when such review is completed as to the documentation," Winterbottom stated in an e-mail response to the newspaper last week.

Meanwhile, in Seymour, Koskelowski implied at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting that residents may not have seen the last of him.

"I am walking out with my head held high," he said, but in the meantime has been cooperating with Roy to ensure a smooth transition.

"A lot of people have asked me why I don't just leave, but I'm not that kind of person," he said. "I want to see (Roy) be successful because the more successful (he) is, the more successful the town is.

"I will continue to devote my life to Seymour, and November 2011 isn't that far away," he said, alluding to the next municipal elections.