Gov. Eliot Spitzer vetoed legislation that would provide certain members of the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) with a 75 percent disability retirement benefit when injured on the job.

“We are deeply disappointed,” said Local 237 President Gregory Floyd in a letter to 6,000 peace officers working for New York City, Health and Hospitals Corporation, Taxi and Limousine Commission, Department of Education, Police Department, City University, and the Housing Authority, who would have benefited from the bill, which passed both houses of the State Legislature.

“Whether you serve as a school safety officer or a police officer, those whose duty it is to safeguard others deserve to have the same disability benefits afforded them when injured on the job,” Floyd said.

Gov. Spitzer objected in his veto message, saying that the individuals covered by this bill “simply do not face the same daily risks as police officers and firefighters, who are entitled to enhanced benefits based upon the enhanced risks that they face every day.”

The disapproved Accident Disability bill S.2486 (Padavan)/-A.4704 (Abbate), which was estimated to cost about $200,000 next year, would have been retroactive to include all injuries taking place on or after Sept. 11, 2001. In his veto message Spitzer noted that the bill contained a “significant flaw,” and explained, “I cannot agree that any such change should be made retroactive to nearly six years of prior injuries. Such a proviso would greatly magnify the fiscal impact of the bill, and set a bad precedent for future legislation.

Spitzer also objected to the bill on the grounds that it would “invite numerous other groups of employees whose jobs present them with risks of injury to seek the same benefit,” and he directed individuals covered by the bill to seek “these enhanced benefits” at the bargaining table.

“This veto will not deter us from continuing to seek this benefit for you,” said Floyd in the letter to the law-enforcement members. “We will go to Albany again and ask the sponsors to reintroduce this legislation for the next legislative session.”

Similar measures had been vetoed several times by former Gov. Pataki, and union officials hoped the new Democratic governor would sign the bill.