Douglas County Colorado

As someone who’s been in law enforcement for 41 years, Douglas County Undersheriff Dave Walcher has worked on police forces that had a defined benefit plan, or a defined contribution plan with high employer and employee contributions. That enabled many colleagues in this demanding profession to retire early, and with enough money accumulated for a lengthy retirement.

When he arrived at the Castle Rock, Colorado-based Douglas County Sheriff department in July 2020, he found a law enforcement 401(a) defined contribution plan with an 8% employer and 8% required employee contribution. “Compared to other law enforcement plans, that’s very low,” Walcher says. “Here in the Denver metropolitan market, to hire officers you need to be competitive with your benefits. I said, ‘We need to do something about that.’”

So Walcher worked with Douglas County Human Resources Director Laura Leary and others to put together a proposal to make the county’s retirement benefit competitive with peers. Walcher and Leary presented the proposal to the Board of County Commissioners in June 2021, and the board approved it at that meeting.

As a result, the contributions for the law enforcement 401(a) plan increased to a 10% employee and 10% employer contribution. Plus, the 457 plan added a 3% employer match for the first time, which law enforcement officers and all other county employees participating in the plan can receive. 

Walcher researched the plan designs that other law enforcement agencies in the Denver metro area have for employer and employee contributions, and he created documentation of how Douglas County compared. The county had not changed its contribution setup since the last time it made major plan design changes in 2005 and 2006, and the law enforcement plan was no longer on par with peers. 

“Our contribution’s competitiveness in the market was the key” to getting county commissioners’ support on the proposal, Leary says. “When you can clearly demonstrate, ‘Here’s where all the other law enforcement agencies in the Denver area are and here’s where we are,’ the commissioners could see that we’re low,” she says. The new 457 match would also help recruit and retain both law enforcement and civilian employees, Leary and Walcher told commissioners.

The changes took effect as of fourth-quarter 2021. For law enforcement officers who participate in the 457 plan as well as the required 401(a) and maximize the 457 match, they contribute 13% and the county contributes 13%, so officers can save 26% of their pay a year for retirement. “That is gigantic, as far as the difference that makes for our people,” Walcher says. “I have received so many compliments about us finally grabbing the bull by the horns and doing something about the retirement issues.”

And the 457 plan open to all county employees now has a 65% participation rate, up from approximately 30% prior to implementing the new match. About 80% of law enforcement officers now participate. Says Leary, “People are listening to the concept of, ‘You never want to leave a match—which is free money—on the table.’”

–Judy Ward