First Selectman Matt Hoey said the town has no intention of revisiting a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the town’s police pensioners, ending a discussion that began in April when the town initially declined to give the increase, citing financial uncertainty and losses around the pandemic.

The contract between the town and the police union does not include any built-in cost of living increases in the pension program, but requires the BOS to review and vote on a potential increase every two years.

In April, the Pension Committee recommended against any increase, again, referring to a national or global financial downturn stemming from the pandemic as the primary reason. The BOS initially tabled a vote on the matter to allow members to further research and consider the issue.

Though the pension fund is now back to pre-pandemic levels, Hoey said the town will not revisit the issue in the immediate future, and is also not committing to bringing it back to the table before the next two-year cycle in the contract requires them to.

“The Pension Committee as well as the Board [of Selectmen] just don’t feel that this is an appropriate time to address or adjust the pensions,” Hoey said.

Hoey said that the decision is purely financial, and has nothing to do with any sentiment or push against policing or police unions, part of the larger movement advocating for racial justice across the world. He also said there was sentiment that any future conversations about a COLA include other unions as well- though there is no legal requirement to do so.

The last time police pensioners saw a cost of living increase was in 2008, according to town officials. Before that, the BOS authorized a cost of living increasing at least three consecutive times during the two-year cycle, according to public documents.

The increase would have cost the town around $68,000 annually over 19 years based on a 4.2 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) according to a letter from the Guilford’s insurance actuary, a Windsor-based company named Milliman. That would provide a 3.75 percent bump to pensioners.

The town was also presented by Miliman with the possibility of going with an adjustment based on 60 percent of the CPI, which would have resulted in about a $40,000 annual increase over the same period, providing a 2.23 percent increase to retired police officers.

The 50 or so pensioners have been represented by retired Guilford police officer Jeff Hocking, who has been critical of the BOS and the lack of action over 12 years to offer the COLA increase.

Out-of-pocket medical costs have nearly doubled for pensioners since 2008, Hocking told the Courier in May. Human Resources Director Mitch Goldblatt said he didn’t have the exact figures for co-pays and other medical expenses, but that Hocking was largely correct about that assertion.

At a Board of Selectmen meeting earlier this month, Finance Director Maryjane Malvasi provided a rosy picture of the town’s financial situation following early upheaval from the pandemic. Hocking cited these numbers as well as 2.25 percent raises for town employees approved for the 2020-’21 budget as evidence the town could afford the COLA.

The town could choose to consider the COLA at any time, and in April, both members of the BOS and members of the Pension Committee said the town might consider taking up the issue before the two year period—potentially early in 2021.

Hoey said he was not “committing one way or another” on any date or timetable to consider the COLA before the 2022 deadline, when contractually the BOS would need to vote on it again.