Submitted By: William E. Sexton, City Attorney
Presentation By: William E. Sexton
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Department: City Attorney
STAFF RECOMMENDATION (Motion Ready):
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Introduce Ordinance 2024-12 revising Section 43-87(b)(3) of the Code of Ordinances to provide that participants in the City of Ocala General Employees' Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) may participate in the plan for a period not to exceed 96 months
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OCALA'S RELEVANT STRATEGIC GOALS:
Engaged Workforce
PROOF OF PUBLICATION:
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BACKGROUND:
In or about 2009 and in an effort to incentivize the retirement of long-term employees, the City of Ocala, Florida, like many other employers, developed and implemented a Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP).
The City of Ocala's DROP allowed employees who have worked for the City of Ocala for 30 years to elect to retire but to continue to work for an additional 60 months during which time the City of Ocala placed that employees' retirement benefit into a separate DROP account which will become available to the employee upon the conclusion of the DROP period.
For the time since it was implemented, the City of Ocala's DROP has functioned as an effective tool for engaging and retaining a complete and effective workforce.
Now, facing an unprecedented economic environment in which recruiting and retaining employees is considerably more difficult, the City of Ocala desires to implement mechanisms to retain its existing employees - including extending the period of time in which existing employees may remain the DROP from five to eight years.
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS:
* City Council finds and determines that the increase of the period of time in which employees of the City of Ocala can remain employed while participating in the DROP will assist in providing for a robust and effective workforce.
* City Council finds and determines that this ordinance and the amendment to Section 43-87(b)(3), Code of Ordinances, City ...
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