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From The New York Times:
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.
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.
In fact, the cost of public pensions has been systemically
underestimated nationwide for more than two decades, say some analysts.
According to pension data collected by The New York Times from the city and state, about 3,700 retired public workers in New York are now getting pensions of more than $100,000 a year, exempt from state and local taxes. The data belie official reports that the average state pension is a modest $18,000, or $38,000 for retired police officers and firefighters. (The average is low, in part, because it includes people who worked in government only part time, or just a few years, as well as surviving spouses getting partial benefits.)
Roughly one of every 250 retired public workers in New York is collecting a six-figure pension, and that group is expected to grow rapidly in coming years, based on the number of highly paid people in the pipeline. More here. |
