INDIANAPOLIS – Allen County Sheriff David Gladieux would be able to start receiving pension payments while remaining in office under a bill moving through the Indiana Legislature.

The language was added last week at the request of Gladieux, who is working with a lobbyist on the matter.

In August, the Allen County Council defeated the sheriff's request for the change to the county police retirement plan by a vote of 3-4.

That lobbyist approached Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne, who amended the provision into Senate Bill 10. Carbaugh considers the language to be a matter of fairness because other elected county officials can already do the same thing.

That's because those officials are governed by rules of the Public Employees' Retirement Fund.

County sheriffs receive retirement through 92 individual pension funds where decisions are made in concert by the local merit board and County Council. The merit board had already approved the change allowing the sheriff to remain sheriff despite receiving retirement payments, according to minutes of a County Council meeting.

It is commonly called in-service retirement.

Gladieux didn't respond to messages seeking comment Monday.

Carbaugh said the idea is no different than when someone starts collecting their Social Security benefits but still works a job.

“It's a benefit they have already earned,” he said, noting the language applies only to those who have reached the age of 55 and maxed out their retirement benefit. In the Allen County plan, participants max out at 32 years of service.

Carbaugh doesn't believe there is any financial impact to the county.

The bill would apply to all counties – not just Allen.

Stephen Luce, executive director of the Indiana Sheriffs Association, said he is looking into the language and its overall impact.

“More or less it's a consistency issue,” he said.

Allen County Councilman Ken Fries said he thinks it doesn't look good to have a sheriff collecting both a salary and a pension at the same time. He said in Gladieux's case that would elevate his overall pay from a $150,000 salary to $230,000 annually with pension payments.

Fries said he personally cautioned Gladieux against the idea.

Fries actually voted for it when it came to the council in August though. He said that's because he didn't think the council had the legal authority to block it.

He expected Gladieux to challenge it in the courts and heard through the grapevine it might come up in the Legislature.

According to council minutes, County Auditor Nick Jordan said fewer than 10 other elected officials in his tenure have done the same under the public employees' retirement plan. Jordan said he thinks the county surveyor is doing the same thing currently and at least one county commissioner did so in the past.

Stan Brown, with pension consulting firm McCready and Keene, said four other counties have put the language in their own county sheriff pension plans.

Councilman Joel Benz noted that other people typically retire and go work in the private section.

“To the extent of double-dipping, they usually go and find a retirement job and still have an income stream and draw on their pension. This is basically the same thing except we are paying from public funds,” he said.

Councilman Larry Brown said, “I have concerns, major concerns.”

The three in support when the proposal came up for a vote were Fries, Benz and Kyle Kerley. The four against were Brown, Sharon Tucker, Tom Harris and Robert Armstrong.

nkelly@jg.net