Part of MAST Pension Plan Approved

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The city council on Thursday approved a defined contribution pension plan in which the city will contribute an amount equal to 12 percent of the ambulance employees' salaries each year to what is basically a 401(K).

That's a contribution more generous than the 10percent offered to elected officials.

City Manager Troy Schulte explained that Kansas City agreed in negotiations with Local 42 to provide a defined contribution plan. "This is simply implementing that provision of the agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement," he added.

The plan does not go into effect immediately. The bargaining agreement promises a choice between a defined contribution plan and a defined benefit plan, and the council still needs to come up with the one with the guaranteed benefit amount.