June 08, 2009
Eye-popping pensions, salaries
A train mechanic for the Long Island Rail Road makes $283,373. A retired school superintendent collects a $316,245 annual pension.
So report the New York Post and Newsday in separate stories that should give pause to taxpayers about the salaries and benefits collected by employees of New York state and its local governments, school districts and public authorities.
According to Newsday, at least 1,325 retirees collect annual pensions of $100,000 or more. Nearly half are from Long Island. The annual cost of public pensions in New York exceeds $10 billion. Among the local recipients of jumbo pensions --which are high because pensions are based on salaries and length of time in the system--are State Republican leader Joseph Mondello, who collects an annual pension of $113,550; current Garden City Village Clerk Robert Schoelle Jr. who gets $139,220; and retired Commack Superintendent James Hunderfund, who has the highest pension in the state - $316,245 a year, according to records. Taxpayers can expect to shoulder higher costs in the future, according to Newsday. Pension experts say these jumbo pensions will continue to climb as baby boomers retire. And with New York state retirement funds compelled to make up losses of more than $73 billion because of the recession, many are worried that school districts and local governments will have to turn to taxpayers to cover the costs. Private accounts such as a 401(k)rise and fall with the market, and have no such safety net. Since the state Legislature approved pension sweeteners in 2000, taxpayer costs have soared. The Massapequa school district, for example, contributed $220,000 for pensions in the 2000-2001 school year. Last year, it paid $6.5 million, said Alan Adcock, assistant business superintendent. Stock market losses will require taxpayers to increase pension payments, possibly nearly double them. " In Massapequa, that would mean an additional $5 million out of a $171 million budget, " Adcock told Newsday. For Jim Malloy, a 44-year-old self-employed business consultant from Smithtown, the solution is simple: He plans to move out state.
"I feel like a fool," he said. "I feel like I get up and go to work everyday to pay for everyone else's retirement." Meanwhile, Long Island train commuters are paying higher fares as part of a $2.3 billion bailout of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The Post reports that "six grease monkeys at a Long Island Rail Road maintenance facility in Queens racketed up their incomes by more than three times their base salaries" with overtime and other perks, each clearing more than $200,000 in 2008.The biggest payday went to Ronald Dunne, a car repairman who pulled down a staggering $283,373 in total compensation, making him the fifth-highest-paid employee in the entire transit system. (snip) Dunne's base salary was $62,976 but, incredibly, he hauled in an additional $220,397, mostly from overtime. Michael Shurman, who made $278,746 working in the repair yard in 2008, now collects a pension of $10,122 a month. That's a month.
Governor David Paterson has proposed a new pension system for future public employees. But the savings from his Tier 5 proposal are too modest, according to the Empire Center's E.J. McMahon (here and here).
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