The Baltimore County Council's modest effort at reforming its own pension plan could play a pivotal role in fall elections as criticism continues to mount over a system that far outpaces retirement benefits for working families.

The council voted Tuesday to cap pensions at 60 percent of the annual salary, currently $54,000. The bill, drafted by Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, takes effect Feb. 1 and applies to anyone who joins the seven-member panel after that date, but not to the current members. Members tabled a broader bill, in which Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder added age limits on when pensions can be collected in addition to the 60 percent cap.

With the two councilmen likely to face one another in the Democratic primary for county executive, "this is going to be politically dangerous," said Matthew Crenson, a retired Johns Hopkins University political science professor.

"There is now a light separating Kamenetz and Bartenfelder," he said.

The issue has been brewing since The Baltimore Sun revealed last fall that another councilman, Vincent Gardina, would retire at age 54 with a pension equal to 100 percent of his salary for life.

The pension issue is resonating with voters, Crenson said, because it calls to mind another controversy: Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon leaving office next month with her full pension, despite being forced to resign as part of a plea deal to resolve criminal charges.

"This will be a big issue, and a lot of people are alert to it," Crenson said. "It will show at the polls."

Donald F. Norris, chairman of the department of public policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, agreed, saying, "Bartenfelder will hammer Kamenetz with this issue."

Pension reform also will provide fodder for council campaigns, Norris said.

"This is a clear case of elected officials protecting their own pocketbooks and enabling themselves to retire at a relatively young age," Norris said. "The cap won't quell any outcry among citizens, and it will give people running against these officials an issue."

Steve Whisler, a Catonsville resident running for council in the 1st District, called the pension a burden on taxpayers that is "far too generous and out of touch with those offered to federal and state workers.

"Baltimore County citizens will be liable for large pension expenses long after most of you leave office," he said to the council during a recent work session.

For residents who are calling for sweeping changes, a cap that does not apply to current members falls far short.

"This is incredibly disappointing to those who wanted to see real pension reform enacted," said Steve Bailey, co-chairman of the county chapter of Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax watchdog group. "In exempting every existing member, it is incredibly self-serving. They gave their blessing to an old system and kept it in place for themselves."

He said the group will launch efforts to educate the public on the need for pension reform and push for a change to the more prevalent employee-contribution plans, such as the 401(k).

In a policy that dates to 1971, current council members can retire after five terms with a pension equal to their full salary for the rest of their lives. Kamenetz drafted his bill in November, saying the 60 percent cap was fair but not punitive.

Council members who have served four or more terms would not have received full benefits until they reached the age of 55, under Bartenfelder's failed proposal. Those who served fewer than four terms would not have received full benefits until they turned 60. Each provision would have saved considerable tax dollars, according to fiscal notes Bartenfelder researched along with the county auditor. Raising the retirement age to 55, for example, could save about $1.3 million in lifetime benefits, he said.