Ninety-five out of 933 retirees in the state state Police and Fire Retirement System who retired last year had a pension of at least $100,000, a report today from the Empire Center for New York State Policy found.
The proportion was less than in recent years, the report found, but three times higher than a decade ago.
The average pension for all newly retired police and fire members was $60,798. The average pension for those in the New York State Employee Retirement System—which includes state and municipal employees was $25,721, according to the report from the Albany-based fiscally conservative group.
The maximum allowable benefits—which is the total amount a retiree could collect before deductions for spousal benefits—for the 367,806 retired NYSLRS members at the end of 2011-12 fiscal year was more than $8.4 billion, up 9 percent from the previous year, the report said.
SUNY President George Philip again led the state in the highest pension at $261,037. As Gannett reported last week, he also is the state’s biggest double dipper because he also collects a $281,000 salary.
Second in pension was Francis Lombardi of the New York Port Authority at $214,165, and third was Cheryl Schatmeyer of the Westchester Medical Center at $206,052.
6 Comments
This State (and cities, towns, and villages within) has been run by pusillanimous cowards and charlatans for the past 50 years. They have squandered all of our futures for their own selfish, cowardly interests. A contemporary Dante would have a special place in hell reserved for them.
these are exorbitant pensions that should not be permitted..there is a reason that states
are going broke…and that is the promises they made, the contract provisions they agreed to
and the power of public sector unions to coerce them into permitting what no private sector
business would ever permit…there is absoutely no way to justify anyone working for the
public sector to retire on more than the highest base salary ever made due to pension
calculations that are tailored to allow legalized theavery from the coffers of the taxpyayers
of the states counties and cities where these practices have run rampant..its abuse plain and
simple and the only recourse is for a special master to come in under chapter 9 of the bankruptcy
code and declare these deals null and void
Finally the truth comes out..it’s not your average union worker walking away with huge pensions…its the Police and Firemen, who of course deserve a good salary, but the abuse by the polititions to approve taxpayer monies to fund pensions greater than one’s salary, is criminal. I am tired of the taxpayers blaming all the unions for their woes when it is the abusers, property and school taxes burdening the homeowners.
then if you agree your union leaders should take a position that is consistant with your
belief rather than simply falling in line lockstep with the other uniformed services unions
It ALL adds up, but the PD, Fire, and SCHOOLS are by far the biggest glommers and MUST be brought to levels of reason. If, for reasons of compassion, you overfeed your dog, you get a fat, lazy, ugly, ever hungry dog. You do no favors to yourself or to the dog.
Looking at the list of names, there are a lot of ERS retirees. They are not from the PF retirement system but the ‘regular’ retirement system…so don’t blame it all on the police.