Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

The second of UConn's two highly paid top cops, Maj. Ronald Blicher, has decided to retire, five and a half months after Courant disclosures sparked controversy over his $201,883 annual salary and the $255,848-a-year pay of Chief Robert Hudd � who also has said that he will retire after the university hires a new chief.

Blicher, 56, submitted a formal letter of retirement effective Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the Office of the State Comptroller, which handles state employee retirements and pensions.

There was no official estimate Thursday of what either Blicher or Hudd would receive for a lifetime pension, but each has worked three decades for the state and easily will be eligible for far more than $100,000 a year, according to state retirement regulations. Like other retirees, both would receive lifetime health benefits and annual cost-of-living increases as part of their pensions.

Blicher's retirement comes 2� months after UConn officials announced in June that Hudd, 55, had decided to retire. But Hudd will stay until a successor is hired, and that could take months.

Until then, Blicher's second-ranking post in the UConn department will remain vacant. The question of whether to fill it will be up to the new UConn chief, school spokesman Michael Kirk said.

"The search committee for the chief position was appointed last month and is chaired by Jeremy Paul, the dean of UConn's law school," Kirk said. "The committee will be meeting soon and the job posting for the open position will be up probably in the next few weeks. The time frame isn't certain at this point, since it's hard to tell how brief or lengthy the search process will be."

The salaries of the new chief and that of any successor to Blicher � if his position is filled � are likely to be lower than the eye-popping levels that drew strong negative reaction from both the public and the UConn Board of Trustees when The Courant reported them in a March 13 Government Watch column.

Both men's pay is far higher than that of their counterparts on other college campuses, some significantly bigger than UConn's, or even the salaries of many big-city police chiefs. For example, Hudd's salary exceeds the $212,000 that New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was receiving as of two years ago. Both Hudd's and Blicher's salaries more than doubled in the past 10 years to reach their current levels. Each received raises of at least $44,595 last year.

"With regard to the next chief's salary: As you know, the responsibilities of the position are being narrowed, so the salary will be reduced to reflect that," Kirk said. "The salary for the new position will be on par with similar public safety director/chief of police jobs at other universities."

Although there's no official word on how big Hudd's or Blicher's pensions will be, the comptroller's office has provided a formula for computing the pensions of police and other hazardous-duty workers retiring now after 30 years' service; both men have worked for the state at least 30 years.

Here is the comptroller's formula: "2.5 percent times 20 years, plus 2 percent times the number of years beyond 20 years. The total percentage is then multiplied by the average salary. [For example] 30 years of service = 70 percent [of] average salary."

http://articles.courant.com/2011-09-01/news/hc-uconn-police-retirement-0902-20110901_1_ronald-blicher-pensions-chief-position