Mayor Nutter wants to commission a study to find out if the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) is working.
"What is the future of the DROP program, is it helping the city, not helping the city?" said Nutter, who today sent legislation on DROP to City Council for approval, that includes a proposal to commission a formal study on the program.
"I am looking at the DROP program, having listened to numerous members of the public. We need to take a look at what is going on," Nutter said.
Created in June 1999, DROP provides lump-sum payments to eligible workers who delay their retirements for four years. The program was designed to help the city better manage its workforce. In theory the city could better anticipate retirement dates and plan accordingly. And the program could encourage more early retirements.
Nutter said that while there have been previous studies of DROP, there hasn't been one to see how it impacts the behaviour of public employees.
DROP has made headlines in recent years because elected officials have used the perk -- and often kept working. City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, who was enrolled in the program, retired for a day in January 2008, so that that she could collect almost $300,000, and then was "rehired" to serve her 8th term. Other council members are now enrolled in DROP.
Nutter, who has opposed elected officials entering DROP, said he'll have more on that issue soon.
"That's still my position as the mayor of this city," he said. "You will hear more from me about that very soon."