Posted on 09/07/2015 1:16:15 PM PDT by WonkyTonky
For the past quarter century, Armando Fontoura has been looting a New Jersey state pension fund. But it won’t do any good to call the cops.
Fontoura is sheriff of Essex County. A dean among double-dippers, he draws $207,289 a year from public coffers – $144,896 in salary plus $62,393 from pension as a retiree of his own office.
Today is the 25th anniversary of Fontoura’s faux retirement. So far, he has collected $1.35 million in retirement cash without ever giving up his full-time county paycheck
On Friday, Aug. 31, 1990, Fontoura retired as county undersheriff at age 47. The following Monday, he returned to work at Essex County with the same salary and duties, but a different title – sheriff’s officer chief. One year later, he took charge as sheriff, a post he’s held ever since.
“Does it look bad? Yes,” admitted Fontoura. “No question about it, it looks bad. Was it legal? Yes.”
Worse for taxpayers, three-fourths of New Jersey’s county sheriffs – plus hundreds of other public officials – are taking advantage of pension loopholes to collect dual incomes.
A continuing New Jersey Watchdog investigation found the sheriffs in 16 of the state’s 21 counties are double-dippers. In addition, the sheriffs also employ 37 undersheriffs who returned to work after retiring as local, county or state law enforcement officials at relatively young ages.
In total, the 53 officers collect nearly $10 million a year from public coffers – $5.7 million in salaries plus $4.1 million in retirement pay – according to payroll and pension records.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdog.org ...
We're too lazy and scairt to do it ourselves, so we pay VERY expensive Blue & Brown trash haulers to do it for us.
Enjoy your property taxes.
Sums up everything wrong with government, at all levels.
The guys who wrote the laws? They are sitting pretty -- and (mostly) they know exactly how to act without (technically) breaking any of those sweet little laws. Ka-Ching!!
When it comes to police and fire, many cities and counties in CA essentially pay for two fire and two police departments: The only that is actually employed, putting out fires and policing the streets, and the one that is made up of retired firefighters and police who are drawing pensions that almost, or do, equal what they made while actively working. In CA, they are paid very well.
Very expensive to pay for two of everything. This is one reason there is no money to pay for infrastructure.
Public employee unions own the state of CA. This is unlikely to ever change, as no one will ever take on police and fire unions. Not even Scot Walker.
My own observation is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Counties in New Jersey are divided into townships, and townships have their own schools, police department, fire department, etc. and it becomes very easy to qualify for a pension in one township and then start a new job in the neighboring township. Add in county, state, and federal level jobs and just about everyone who is not working in Manhattan has figured out how to tap into this.
I met a man who had started out in life in the Air Force, then became a police officer and national guardsman. He switched to a different town, rose to police captain, retired from that job, moved to a full time national guard job, then finished up with a part time guard job and a part time security job. Meanwhile, his wife was the dispatcher for the police department that he headed.
This couple ended up with four pension checks.
Politicians are to blame for this, not the guy collecting.
There isn’t a person here who would turn down the money he is LEGALLY receiving.
This shit has go to be stopped in its tracks. What makes them any better than anyone else? They’re very well paid, let them fund their own retirements like every other workingman has to do. I mean, really, THIS IS BEYOND OBSCENE!
They do it joyfully. Christie has tried to deal with it. He has gone nowhere.
New Jersey = Greece, with a federal sugar daddy to keep from falling.
New Jersey, the model for Illinois and Louisiana governments...
When it gets to the crisis level the politicians threaten they will have to reduce public safety not the benefits those in public safety revieve
I have heard LA County Fire pays out 90% after 20 and 100% after 25 years. It actually pays to retire.
NJ and union is all you need to read
See this link: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/28/local/la-me-pensions-20110428
This guy in California got $4 million a year in retirement pay along with a $150,000 year pension!
Something has to be done, like some sort of pension cap.
But.... they’re all heroes aren’t they?
LOL - very good.
I was just going to post that these clowns in NJ are mere pikers compared to those in California.
Are sheriffs elected in NJ?
“This couple ended up with four pension checks”
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Well at least they worked-—they could have been on the dole all of those years just like many Americans.
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