City Will Not Seek Reservist Debt Repayments

The city will not try to collect back pay from the widows of two reservists who died fighting in Iraq, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.

Police Officer James McNaughton and Firefighter Christian Engeldrum had participated in the city's Extended Military Benefits Package under which they received both military and municipal salaries while they were overseas but agreed to pay back the lesser of the two to the city when they returned. The program has caused confusion and drawn criticism after many soldiers received hefty bills from the city.

Under pressure from the City Council, the Bloomberg administration is considering changes to the policy.

The mayor yesterday defended the city's benefits as "generous," but he said the families of soldiers who have fallen would not have to pay back the debt. "They've paid enough price already," he said. McNaughton was a sergeant who served with the Army Reserve and was killed last year.Engeldrum, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, died in 2004.

The commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Martha Hirst, could not say whether the families would have to pay when she appeared at a City Council hearing last month. Lawmakers want the city to change its formula for calculating military pay, which is inflated because it takes into account housing and food.

Mr. Bloomberg said the city "would try to work something out," and he said that housing shouldn't be included in the calculation. "When you're asking somebody to live in a tent in Iraq, I would argue the value of that housing isn't substantial," he said.