The Westbrook Police Association contends city administrators withheld information that showed retirement benefits police want would cost millions of dollars less than the city has been claiming.

City administrators, however, dispute that contention.

At the center of the dispute is a Sept. 7, 2004, letter to City Administrator Jerre Bryant from Kathy Morin, assistant to the chief deputy executive director of the Maine State Retirement System.

In the letter, Morin explained that it would cost the city about $1.3 million to move all of the police officers currently covered by 25-year retirement to the 20-year plan requested by the police association.

That figure is much lower than the figure cited by Mayor Bruce Chuluda in an open letter to Westbrook residents published in the Sept. 1, 2004, edition of the American Journal. In that letter, Chuluda said that it would cost the city $11.3 million to move the police to 20-year retirement.

Retirement benefits are at the center of the long-standing contract dispute between the police union and the city. Contract negotiations between the two parties have gone on for almost three years. While there are some disputes over wages and insurance costs, the main issue has remained retirement. The police want to switch to a 20-year retirement plan, saying it would save the city money in the long term. The administration has countered by saying the police proposal is too expensive.

Police union representatives said this week they didn’t receive the letter until they got it from the city in recent weeks, after hearing about it from representatives of the Maine State Retirement System.

That figure discussed by Chuluda comes from information in a letter dated Feb. 12, 2004, from Maine State Retirement Plan Administrator John McGough to Human Resource Director Tina Crellin.

In his letter, McGough said that to move the 18 police officers that are currently covered by 25-year retirement to 20-year retirement would require a transfer of $9.4 million from surplus funds and an additional payment of $1.3 million. The $9.4 million dollars would come from a surplus account that the city has with the Maine State Retirement System. It is surplus money that the city has paid in previous years to the Maine State Retirement System and cannot be used for any other purpose than to pay for state retirement benefits.

In addition, there are 12 officers that are covered under the city’s retirement plan. To move them to the 20-year retirement plan would cost an additional $649,558 for a total cost to the city of approximately $1.9 million.

The September letter from Morin to Bryant clarified the situation, explaining that the bulk of the money would be transferred from one account to another within the state retirement system, and since that money was already in the system, there would be no additional cost to the city.

“Those monies would simply be transferred from assets previously paid to the system,” wrote Morin. The only additional costs to the city would be the $1.9 million required to move all officers to 20-year retirement.

Representatives from the police union contend that while they were given the February letter from McGough to Crellin as well as a March letter from McGough to Crellin answering specific questions about two officers, they did not know about the existence of the September letter until a meeting with the city and Maine State Retirement on April 12.

Police Association President Sean Lally said he first found out about the letter during the meeting. He said he never received a copy of the letter until after the April 12 meeting. John Desjardins, vice president of the Westbrook Police Association, also said he did not know about the letter before learning about it in April.

On Friday, Bryant said that any claims that the city withheld the letter from the police were “absolutely false.”

“They were provided to the union president at the time they were sent,” he said.

Crellin said she believed the letters were provided to the union at the time they were received. “We had no reason to keep copies and not share them,” she said. “It’s in nobody’s best interest to do that. There’s no point to hiding that information.”

Neither Crellin nor Bryant could recall which member of the police union the city gave the letter to. Phil Hebert, who served as president of the police union from July 2003 to July 2004, said that he recalled receiving the February and March letters, but he knew nothing about the September letter.

When asked again on Monday night about the letter, Bryant continued to say he believed they were given to the police union. “I’m certain that it was forwarded to them,” he said. “We would have no reason not to give it to them.”

Desjardins said the September letter shows that the police union’s proposal would be affordable for the city. “What we found out was that our numbers were right all along,” he said. “All along, they’ve been saying that it’s too expensive (to move police to 20-year retirement). The fact is that it’s not too expensive. It would actually save money in the long run.”

Chuluda said he wrote the piece that appeared in the American Journal based on the best information the city administration had at the time. Even in the light of the September letter showing that the retirement would cost significantly less than $11.33 million, he said he still believed moving the police to 20-year retirement was too expensive for the city.

“I stand by what we said,” said Chuluda. “I still don’t believe it’s in the best interest of the people of Westbrook.”

Bryant said Chuluda’s open letter was written as a response to the police union’s public statements about the contract negotiations. “Bruce felt compelled to respond because there was only one side of the negotiations being published,” he said.

While confirming that it would cost the city $1.9 million to move the police to 20-year retirement, Bryant said that going forward, the plan would also require the city to pay in 16.5 percent of gross wages towards the police retirement over the next three years. Currently, the city contributes 10 percent of gross wages to employees in the city retirement system. Bryant said he still believed moving the police to 20-year retirement was too expensive for the city.

“We’re trying to rationally manage finances in this community,” Bryant said. “It is not in our interest to keep wages below market and benefits below market. We are absolutely committed to providing competitive wages, competitive benefits and competitive working conditions.”

While the letters remain under dispute, both the city and the police have said they want to settle the contract dispute, which has been going on for just under three years. Both sides met Monday morning with representatives from the Maine Labor Relations Board for a mediation hearing.

Bryant declined to comment on the hearing, citing an agreement by both sides to not discuss the issue in public while the process is ongoing. Bryant did say both sides had a good session on Monday, and he was “optimistic that we can reach a solution.”

Lally also declined to comment on the mediation hearing, citing the same agreement as Bryant. Lally said the two sides are scheduled to have another meeting with the mediation board on June 1.

While neither side will comment on the mediation hearings, the police union recieved public support last week in the form of a petition signed by 167 residents.

The petition, which was organized by Joseph Duguay of Larrabee Village, urges the city to setlle the contract with the police union. “We, the undersigned citizens of Westbrook are appalled the Westbrook Police Department has been three years with neither a contract nor a raise,” reads the petition.

Duguay did not return a phone call seeking comment about the petition.

Lally said the police union appreciated the support. “It’s great when people do something proactive,” he said. “We’re thrilled. It means a lot to us.”