NY Pensions ....100k Plus....

[JustRalph]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/economy/21pension.html

PAYBACK TIME
Padded Pensions Add to New York Fiscal Woes
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and AMY SCHOENFELD
Published: May 20, 2010

In Yonkers, more than 100 retired police officers and firefighters are collecting pensions greater than their pay when they were working. One of the youngest, Hugo Tassone, retired at 44 with a base pay of about $74,000 a year. His pension is now $101,333 a year.

It’s what the system promised, said Mr. Tassone, now 47, adding that he did nothing wrong by adding lots of overtime to his base pay shortly before retiring. “I don’t understand how the working guy that held up their end of the bargain became the problem,” he said.

Despite a pension investigation by the New York attorney general, an audit concluding that some police officers in the city broke overtime rules to increase their payouts and the mayor’s statements that future pensions should be based on regular pay, not overtime, these practices persist in Yonkers.

The city has even arranged for its police to put in overtime as flagmen on Consolidated Edison construction sites. Though a company is paying the bill, the city is actually reporting the work as city overtime to the New York State pension fund, padding future payouts — an arrangement at odds with the spirit of public employment, if not the law.

The Yonkers experience shows how errors, misunderstandings and wishful thinking are piling hidden new costs onto New York’s public pension system every year, worsening the state’s current fiscal crisis. And the problem is not just in New York. Public pension costs are ballooning everywhere, throwing budgets out of whack and raising the question of whether venerable state pension systems are viable.

more at the link

[Tom]

To protect and serve.....themselves.:ThmbDown::ThmbDown::ThmbDown :

[hazzardm]

The first person who has put their life on the line (excluding military) please chime in.

[hazzardm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/economy/21pension.html

PAYBACK TIME
Padded Pensions Add to New York Fiscal Woes
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and AMY SCHOENFELD
Published: May 20, 2010

In Yonkers, more than 100 retired police officers and firefighters are collecting pensions greater than their pay when they were working. One of the youngest, Hugo Tassone, retired at 44 with a base pay of about $74,000 a year. His pension is now $101,333 a year.

It’s what the system promised, said Mr. Tassone, now 47, adding that he did nothing wrong by adding lots of overtime to his base pay shortly before retiring. “I don’t understand how the working guy that held up their end of the bargain became the problem,” he said.

Despite a pension investigation by the New York attorney general, an audit concluding that some police officers in the city broke overtime rules to increase their payouts and the mayor’s statements that future pensions should be based on regular pay, not overtime, these practices persist in Yonkers.

The city has even arranged for its police to put in overtime as flagmen on Consolidated Edison construction sites. Though a company is paying the bill, the city is actually reporting the work as city overtime to the New York State pension fund, padding future payouts — an arrangement at odds with the spirit of public employment, if not the law.

The Yonkers experience shows how errors, misunderstandings and wishful thinking are piling hidden new costs onto New York’s public pension system every year, worsening the state’s current fiscal crisis. And the problem is not just in New York. Public pension costs are ballooning everywhere, throwing budgets out of whack and raising the question of whether venerable state pension systems are viable.

more at the link

Now I'm just guessing JR, but I think you are a vet. So I defer to you that respect. But how can you possibly complain about a man/men who has likely served the public in a life threatening job in NYC, nothing but the utmost admiration?

[hazzardm]

To protect and serve.....themselves.:ThmbDown::ThmbDown::ThmbDown :


Bullshot

[hazzardm]

If you haven't noticed, this thread infuriates me. :mad:

[bigmack]

Bullshot
That's heavy. :rolleyes:

Look man, the key word you're missin' in the story is padded, dig?

Nobody likes a cheat, even if they're a superhero.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u70/macktime/614_4_034.jpg

[hazzardm]

I am unsure of the verbal boundaries for left wing nuts ;)

[ElKabong]

I think Just Ralph was a cop. I could be wrong, he can correct me.

I'm no cop or fireman, but I have a problem with the following...
The city has even arranged for its police to put in overtime as flagmen on Consolidated Edison construction sites. Though a company is paying the bill, the city is actually reporting the work as city overtime to the New York State pension fund, padding future payouts — an arrangement at odds with the spirit of public employment, if not the law.

THAT pisses me off :mad:

[hazzardm]

I think Just Ralph was a cop. I could be wrong, he can correct me.

I'm no cop or fireman, but I have a problem with the following...
The city has even arranged for its police to put in overtime as flagmen on Consolidated Edison construction sites. Though a company is paying the bill, the city is actually reporting the work as city overtime to the New York State pension fund, padding future payouts — an arrangement at odds with the spirit of public employment, if not the law.

THAT pisses me off :mad:

At least CE was footin the bill. For all my run-ins, I still give most all of them a pass.

[JustRalph]

At least CE was footin the bill. For all my run-ins, I still give most all of them a pass.


That's the point you are missing. CE was footing the bill for the short term. The fact that the officers were padding their yearly salary at the request of the Police Department and were being paid through the normal salary systerm means that they also padded their pension checks, that go on for years and years, paid for by the public. Or paid for by a pension system that is broke. So CE gets the short term value and the officers gain a "HUGE" long term benefit that is not available anywhere in private life.

They did this in Ohio when I worked there. The Ohio Police and Fire Pension fund is now screaming they are broke or will be broke and not able to pay pensions in the future. When pension funds go broke, who do you think pays?

In the example above, CE could have paid those officers through a different format outside the city (it is done everywhere) and it would not have played havoc with the pensions of those officers for the future. It also would not have benefited the officers in the same manner.

The next time you see a older cop out directing traffic somewhere, he may be in his last two years and trying to pad his last two years of salary for the future.

Btw, Hazzard, you can stop with the life on the line crap. I have been there and done that. But I also call a spade a spade....... and this isn't right. Nor is it fair to everyday citizens. I know how Police positions are filled, I have been on the hiring board. I have been an FOP rep so I have a certain context when it comes to the crap.

Don't get me started on Fire Depts .............. :bang: :lol:

[Dave Schwartz]

I'm totally with Ralph on this one.

Geez... you'd think these guys were politicians!

[Rookies]

I saw this too in the Times, Ralph.

Like I said before, Capone could get a schooling on the type of scams today. However, even though these things smell terribly, do ya think those who APPROVED these types of additions to Pension Plans were greased ?:rolleyes:

1/9 they were. You know it ! ;)