Given the risks that police officers and firefighters face protecting the rest of us, you’d think local governments would compensate them with generous salary and benefit packages.

They do.

But how much generosity can cities and counties afford, especially when it begins to impact their ability to provide basic services to the rest of the citizenry?

The Spokane City Council made a tough but sound decision on Monday, when it voted not to pick up the premium for Part B Medicare for 87 retired police officers who enrolled in the Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters retirement plan between March 1, 1970, and Oct. 1, 1977. The Council’s decision saved the city $90,000 a year to begin with. The ultimate economy will be more than four times as much, because Monday’s vote set a precedent for responding to a similar request that is expected on behalf of 292 retired firefighters.

That’s roughly $400,000 a year for a city that’s struggling to close the gap between its tax revenues and the expenses that continue to outpace them. In the long run the savings will be greater still, assuming Medicare premiums continue to climb at anything like the 65 percent increase experienced in the past four years.

The state Legislature created the plan now known as LEOFF 1 in 1970, leaving those who enrolled with the expectation that their health care needs would be met, cost free, for the rest of their lives. It took less than seven years for the lawmakers to realize what a whopping financial burden they had put on other Washington citizens’ shoulders. Not only were the benefits exceptionally generous, the actuarial details were terrifying. By the nature of their work, police and firefighters are more likely than other public employees to incur disabling injuries on the job, making them more likely to retire early and build up more medical expenses for a longer period of time.

So state lawmakers capped that system and created a new one – LEOFF 2 – with more reasonable benefits for public safety workers who would be hired after Oct. 1, 1977.

Since then, the Legislature has also authorized cities to require LEOFF members to enroll in Medicare Part B and, if they don’t, to reject claims that Part B would cover – primarily doctor visits and outpatient procedures.

The actions of the Legislature and the City Council notwithstanding, the retired public safety officers still have a generous plan. Not to mention handsome salaries protected by favorable binding arbitration laws.

The health care liabilities from LEOFF 1 continue to plague local governments who are obliged to pay for what local pension boards deem “necessary medical services.” Those boards, which include several members who are retirement system members, have given their OK to a number of expenses that would raise eyebrows in other systems, from stair gliders to penile implants.

Those expenses are mostly beyond the city’s control. By drawing the line at Part B premiums, however, the City Council left itself in a better position to avoid drastic budget measures, such as further personnel cuts in the police and fire departments.