SCHENECTADY State probes possible pension padding by city workers BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The state Attorney General’s Office is investigating whether Schenectady municipal workers are padding their pensions by working an unusual amount of overtime just before retirement. Schenectady came under scrutiny because it has one of the highest proportions of pension costs in the state, according to the attorney general’s press release. Pension costs make up 8.1 percent of the city’s annual budget. Most municipalities spend just 2 percent of their budget on pensions, AG Andrew Cuomo said. Cuomo has been investigating the issue since mid-March. There are now 64 municipalities and other entities under scrutiny. In Schenectady, Cuomo wants to see all payroll data so that he can determine whether improper pension padding occurred here. He has made similar requests to the other entities being investigated. Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden noted that city police have often doubled their salary with overtime in the last few years before retirement, which vastly increases their pension. But Van Norden said the city can’t stop them. “It’s my understanding that whatever they’re doing to get this overtime, it’s all a function of the collective bargaining agreement,” he said. ................>>>>...............>>>>>..........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01102&AppName=1
This was quoted from BL on another thread. Good call!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
hursday, April 1, 2010, 1:12pm EDT AG Cuomo expands pension probe The Business Review (Albany)
The state Attorney General’s office is expanding its probe of people who pad their state pensions at taxpayer expense.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office is now seeking information from the cities of Cohoes, Schenectady and Watervliet, as well as more than 20 other municipalities around the state. Letters were mailed today.
Cuomo said he wants payroll and other data for pension recipients. The municipalities and state agencies targeted by Cuomo have some of the highest proportions of pension costs in the state, he said.
Earlier this year, Cuomo sent similar requests for information to Saratoga County, the Thruway Authority and the New York Power Authority.
Cuomo said he is looking to identify people who “monopolize” overtime shifts and other “special payments” in their final years of employment to boost their annual income. Annual pension payments are based off the highest three consecutive years of salary.
Pension payments are a key driver behind local property taxes in the state, which are 80 percent above the national average.
Pensions in New York cost each taxpayer an average of $486 a year, the highest rate in the nation. The average annual state pension is $25,000—but Cuomo said some retirees receive stipends of $300,000 or more, much larger than the salaries they earned when they were employed.
Finding That Pot of Gold Under the Rainbow by Pat Zollinger
On April fool’s Day the Attorney General of the State of New York put up a press release that (among other things) notified the public that his investigation into "Pension Padding" was being expanded to include 25 additional localities. The City of Schenectady is now among the group adding up to 64 so far, and hopefully counting. Taxpayers in the State of New York have long been the funding source for this money pit called the New York State Retirement System and the Police and Fire Retirement System. The other thing I noted was that the Teachers Retirement System is also under scrutiny, to which I applaud.
It has long been known by Schenectady Taxpayers, that every year it seems the budget has risen far faster than any rate of inflation. It's also known by many, myself included that members of the police and fire departments, as well as employees of the city have "pumped up" their pensions. Why? Because they can. The city isn't known for conducting extensive investigations into potential fraud by its own employees and its my opinion that its simply because of the unions (there are eight bargaining units in the city) and their power to get the administration elected. The unions and politicians walk hand in hand, in order to get policies made and laws passed that serve their own agendas.
The City of Schenectady's operating budget has risen from $57 million to $78 million in the six short years that Brian Stratton has been Mayor, and he's claiming a shortfall of $12 million for next year. Cuomo's press release states,
Quoted Text
Quoted Text In light of these rising pension costs, state and local employers will be required to make significantly higher contributions to fund the state pension system starting in 2011. For public employers participating in ERS, their mandated contributions will increase from 7.4 percent of payroll to 11.9 percent of payroll; for those participating in PFRS the costs will go from 15.1 percent to 18.2 percent.
When Stratton first took office in 2004 he blamed the high cost of the budget on the poor performance of the "previous administration." Stratton worked out some sort of magic that was offered by the State Comptroller's Office to pay the costs for retirement off, over time and at 8% interest. But new expenses for the retirement have come back to bite Stratton in the rear-end, and he can no longer blame it all on Al Jurczynski. And that's too bad because its easy for any politician to blame those who came before him or her. Over the years Stratton has come up with cutesy buzz phrases like he's "reduced the rate of growth of the budget" and has used Power Point(TM) presentations showing chopped up dollar bills and piles of trash to prove his points. But this year he's quiet, simply saying that he "hopes" he won't have to lay anybody off. Has any of that been effective in relieving some of the tax strain?
The AG's press release states that
Quoted Text
Quoted Text Pension payments to retirees in ERS and PFRS have increased from $3.5 billion in 1999 to more than $7.3 billion in 2009. New Yorkers end up bearing the burden caused by excesses in pensions through increases in their property taxes. New Yorkers already face some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Although pension costs typically make up only about 2 percent of expenditures in cities, towns, counties, and villages, in certain localities pension costs represent over 7 percent of expenditures.
And news reports state that for the City of Schenectady, the pension costs represent 8.1% of our annual budget. But according to Cuomo's April Fool press release, if the regular pension costs increase from 7.4 to 11.9 percent for regular employees and from 15.1 to 18.2 percent for cops and firefighters so what does that mean for the taxpayers? Simply put, it means we can no longer afford our police and fire departments.
In March of 2009 Brian U. Stratton came out with a novel idea that should be embraced by the taxpayers of the City of Schenectady. Initially it was to "dissolve" the City Police Department, but later became one of "consolidation" with the entire county. County government officials were quick to dismiss it as a bad idea, and several localities jumped onto that dismissive bandwagon, but if it were fleshed out, thought about, and even insisted upon by the people of the city, we could very well force it into a ballot proposal that the County would have to address.
But I believe that it has merit, its an idea worth looking into. Not only for the sake of the taxpyers in the city, but also for members of our county, especially in the outlying rural areas. If "public safety" in Schenectady County were consolidated, everyone would be protected.
* If we had a county wide police department, there would no longer be any question of police jurisdiction. * Rotterdam cops are paramedics as are Schenectady firefighters. With county wide public safety we wouldn't have to send out fire trucks anymore (at a huge expense) to "unknown medical emergencies." The nearest "public safety official" whether it’s a cop or a firefighter would be able to respond. * We have a couple or three paid fire departments in the county and many volunteer outfits. People in the outlying areas would benefit from having a county wide paid public safety fire department. Of course our own firefighters would no longer be able to work 24 hours at a pop and be able to sleep on the job while we have to pay overtime to others for coverage. And the volunteers would no longer have the lucrative tax benefits nor the party places at their convenience.
Pension padding is only a small piece of this disgusting picture that we must live with daily as Schenectady residents and taxpayers. We also have to live with the high cost of our multiple layers of government as well as the obvious wheeling and back room dealing that our supposed representatives maintain as they continue to stab us in the backs while they pick our pockets. Consolidating all aspects of public safety won't solve all our problems, but it could very well solve much of the financial problems faced not only by the city, but by the rest of the county even though they don't see it yet.
While the city is devastated by high unemployment, high social services, high rates of crime, high incidences of police misbehavior, many abandoned properties, and very high taxes; the rest of the county will be catching up because there already is a spillover of bad behavior and high costs into the towns and villages. The time to put an end to this is now. The method of pleading with politicians may very well prove to be ineffective, if we call our representatives simply to ask them to do it. But we have to make a start somewhere and if it only takes 10 percent of the electorate from the last governor's race for a city, or 5000 total signatures for the entire county to make these political office holders act, I would say that voters in the City of Schenectady alone could force the issue.
So is Brian Stratton "teasing" the over laden taxpayers? It's been over a year now since he's brought it up to the light. The study he is commissioning won't make any difference one way or the next in moving the "county" off its dead rear-end. It lies in our hands; the hands of the voters. We can insist that it happens and the way things are going, we should.
How about the guys retiring making 150K a year in their last year (with high school diplomas) WHAT A JOKE!
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
When is the Attorney General going to expand his investigation to padding payrolls at the Schenectady City School District? While he's at it take a peek at the criminal activities over there.
The first thing the AG needs to do is publicly commit to running for office. This will put the Reps/Cons on notice that his becoming Governor is just around the corner.
Agree that Cuomo should announce his intentions and stop the charade. Then the CONS can at least get a solid Conservative in the AG seat. They have to find someone other then Lazio for the top slot. If Lazio couldn't beat Hillary he will never beat Cuomo.
The first thing the AG needs to do is publicly commit to running for office. This will put the Reps/Cons on notice that his becoming Governor is just around the corner.
EXACTLY! That way we can have more spending, taxing, borrowing, sucking up to the unions, pouring $$ down sewers (and not even fixing the sewers while you are at it) that we had from his father, Spitzer and the rest of the big-shot liberals who give great speeches all the while talking to us like we are 6 years old.
Then we wonder why our state's economy is in collapse? Socialism is not workinggggggg! But our voters never learn. They want some of someone's else's cash and dammit, some good liberal politician BETTER get it for them!
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
I AM sorry that we will end up with more of the same. When the state goes bankrupt, I am sure they will find a scapegoat to tie to a tree in the middle of the desert and all their spending sins will die with it.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Of course cuomo has the best shot at the seat. NY has the best government handouts in the country. People have become fat and lazy. No one wants to work when the government or non profits will support them.
Like I've said a million times.......the liberal socialists have 'created' this vote getting sub culture. Without it, there would be no need for them. Tell me, after 40+ years, where has affirmative action gotten this county? What has the NAACP done for it's people? What has the non-profits done for the homeless, the drug addicts, the drug dealers and the prostitutes?
They have all enabled their behavior to keep it going from womb to tomb. All for power and greed! And they have done it all with the our taxed dollars.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Logged
When is the Attorney General going to expand his investigation to padding payrolls at the Schenectady City School District? While he's at it take a peek at the criminal activities over there.
