MINOT, ND ( KXNET ) — Those who put their lives on the line to protect us are getting a new benefits package for when they decide to retire their badges.

On Monday night, Minot City Council members voted ‘yes’ to the new pension plan for the Minot Police Department, and leaders say they hope this plan helps retain more officers.

Council members placed police officers, as well as city firefighters, into the Public Safety ND PERS Retirement Plan.

The plan is a defined benefit that allows officers to choose the retirement plan they want and even have the option to retire earlier.

According to the Human Resource director, this is the fourth retirement plan the MPD has had since 2013.

She says this plan creates less of a financial liability for the city compared to previous plans.

“It is costly to do a defined benefit plan and when you have a smaller group of people, we aren’t a large organization, it is costly to run those kinds of plans,” said Lisa Jundt, the Human Resource director for the City of Minot.

According to Jundt, the PERS Plan will be funded through the state and have more active participants.

The state is also on the hook for any unfunded liability instead of the city taking on that burden.

And Jundt says the new plan could be beneficial when it comes to getting new recruits for the department.

“It does help with recruitment, especially in those areas and essentially the other entities in the state, the other municipalities are also on defined benefit plans for their public safety positions so we’re going to be following suit with them as well it is a recruitment tool for our employees,” said Jundt.

The new pension plan goes into effect on January 1 of next year.

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