Kirkwood extending early retirement incentive program

Kirkwood Community College will extend its early retirement incentive program for three more years.

The Kirkwood board of trustees on Thursday voted to extend the program, which was set to expire in June 2012. The three-year extension will take the incentive program through June 2015.

The program has been in place for a number of years, Kirkwood President Mick Starcevich said. It helps the college save money each year and also spreads out retirements more evenly, he said. It also helps recruit employees and get them to stay, since employees must have 10 years of Kirkwood service to participate, Starcevich said.

"In this age of really tight budgets, obviously there's a good advantage for our budget," he said. "And it really helps us attract the best and brightest and helps us retain them."

The average savings when an employee retires and is replaced by someone at a lower salary is $20,000 per position, Starcevich said. Officials hope this program extension will yield $400,000 in savings per year.

A Kirkwood employee must be at least 55 years old and have 10 years of Kirkwood employment to be eligible for the program. Once eligible, they must retire within seven years to receive the incentive benefit.

The benefit is 5 percent of their salary per year for their 10 years of service, so employees get 50 percent of their salary in two payments upon retirement. They also continue on the college health insurance plan, with Kirkwood paying the premiums, until they become Medicare eligible at age 65.

The number of employees eligible during the current year and the three-year extension of the program is 153, Starcevich said. In a normal year, there are about 25 retirements, he said.