By Rodd Cayton, The Paper.
Police officers and firefighters in Corrales have received a post-career boost. At its June 9 meeting, the Village Council approved resolutions changing the village’s Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico (PERA) plans for those workers.
“We are moving to a better plan for our police and firefighters,” Village Administrator Melanie Romero told the Corrales Comment, adding that the village will be picking up the additional contributions that would normally be associated with such a move. The employees will continue to pay their current rates of 13% of their salaries for fire and 10.5% for police. Romero said the move means the police and fire department are at the highest contribution level allowed by state law.
“When they retire, they will get the maximum amount available to them,” she told councilors. “So, if somebody were to start now and they worked the right number of years, they theoretically could retire on 100% of their highest salary.” Romero said Corrales is consistently ranked among the safest places to live in New Mexico and that’s largely due to the police and fire departments. She said upping the retirement plan contributions will help the village’s recruitment and retention efforts. “We’re competing with municipalities who have more bucks than we do,” Romero said. “Sometimes we can’t compete salary wise, so PERA really helps.”
Fire Chief Anthony Martinez appreciated the increase. “This is huge for us, as far as my staff,” he said. “Tonight, with your vote, you’re showing … your employees that serve this community how much you appreciate that.”
Police Chief Victor Mangiacapra told councilors his department is already reaping the benefits of the greater contributions. “We have a guy starting with us on Tuesday, and we told them it wasn’t a done deal yet,” he said, adding that the CPD will have filled 16 of its 17 sworn positions. If another officer is hired, Mangiacapra said, the department will be fully staffed for the first time since 2021, when the budget accounted for 15 sworn positions. A third resolution covers other village employees. Their contributions will drop from 12.65% to 9.65% in August when the other plans go into effect.