Common Councilors voted to approve an Early Retirement Incentive Plan for city employees. Under the state plan, employees must be within three years of the 20 year minimum service and/or at age of no less than 52 to qualify for this program.

According to Melissa Murphy of the Mayor’s office, city officials expect that the city will save a considerable amount of revenue with the retirements. Also an employee’s accrued sick time and vacation time would not be included in the formula to qualify for taking part in the plan.

Under the plan, the retirees will not be eligible for unemployment benefits and there can be no more than a 30% re-hiring rate in the first year, which means that if 10 employees retire then the city can not hire more than three new employees.