Georgetown, Del., April 28, 2009: Sussex County is giving some of its employees a chance to enjoy their ‘golden years’ a littler sooner than expected.

County Council, at its Tuesday, April 28, 2009, meeting, approved a plan to offer early retirement to a limited number of County employees. Under the plan, some of the County’s approximately 500 workers would have the choice to retire now, with incentives to do so, and create measureable savings for the County.

Eligible employees who have reached 62 and who are vested or are within two years of being vested could volunteer to retire, and receive credit – as much as five years – toward their pension calculation. Additionally, certain employees in the Assessment and Building Code divisions, where activity has decreased with the downturn in the housing market, would be offered the chance to retire early, before the age of 62, if they have the required number of years of service.

Department heads would not be eligible for the early retirement option. Eligible employees have until June 15 to take the offer.

County leaders expect the plan will save an estimated $200,000 in the upcoming 2010 fiscal year, and as much as $1 million per year for each year after that. County leaders said the early retirement option – the first ever offered since the County Council form of government took form in the early 1970s – is an important tool to help trim payroll costs that have risen concurrently with the increase in building construction and population of past years.

“A significant cost for any employer, public or private, is payroll. Given the current economy, government and businesses are all looking for ways to reduce their costs,” County Administrator David B. Baker said. “We believe this plan allows the County to reduce some of its costs quite substantially while allowing these employees the chance to enjoy retirement a little sooner, and without hurting their financial plans.”

“By capping this offer to a limited number of employees, we believe County services will not be affected,” Mr. Baker said.

Personnel Director Dennis Cordrey said most positions vacated by employees would either be filled internally, left empty or their duties re-assigned to other employees.

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