Posted on 11/02/2006 6:28:00 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
Fort Worth's beleaguered pension fund faces a huge long-term funding shortfall of $411 million, according to a report by city auditor Costa Triantaphilides.
The most shocking revelation, says the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was the disclosure of how some veteran city employees -- most notably police officers and firefighters -- are racking up large amounts of overtime that dramatically escalates their retirement pay. In 2005, for example:
A police corporal was paid a base salary of $70,429 and earned a stunning $78,231 for 1,630 hours of overtime, bringing total compensation to $148,660. The corporal averaged 71 hours per week, including 31 hours' overtime. But that's not all, says the Star-Telegram: City employees' pensions are based on average compensation for their highest three years of pay, with overtime included. From the example above, the corporal could retire in 2007 with an annual pension of $111,495, far eclipsing the pre-retirement base pay.
Overall, the numbers are more outrageous:
Of 11 anonymous senior employees listed in the report as having received overtime pay of $14,430 or more in 2005, five were police officers; four were fire personnel. The city paid $19.9 million in overtime in 2005, of which $2.66 million, or 13.4 percent, was attributed to "disaster response" efforts such as aiding Hurricane Katrina victims. The overtime paid city employees in 2005 represented an enormous 45.7 percent increase over the $13.7 million paid in 2004. From 2000 through 2005, the city paid $81.6 million in overtime. Taxpayers should be outraged by senior employees racking up excessive overtime to increase their retirement pay to ridiculously high levels that far exceed customary pension benefits. Paying some overtime often makes good sense. But excessive overtime is costly to the city and pension fund, and thus threatens to deplete taxpayers' wallets, says the Star-Telegram.
Source: Editorial, "They were paid how much?!," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 2, 2006.
For text (subscription required):
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/15909730.htm
For more on State and Local Issues:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=40
I'm in the wrong line of work!!
unions are a sweet deal for shore!!
I don't mind people being paid for overtime hours worked, but letting it be part of pension calculations is insane!
At least we probably don't have to worry about him shakin down shop owners to make some extra cash.
"At least we probably don't have to worry about him shakin down shop owners to make some extra cash."
Don't bet on it!
People gaming the system, taxpayers stuck. In college, I worked over break with the service employees. Their taxpayer-funded pension is (was) based on the average of the last three years of employment. One guy near retirement would sleep eight hours on his regular shift, and "work" another eight for the overtime.
Man, it just burns me up to know that the public servants out there are earning more than a servile person should. I mean, don't these people essential to the public order and safe living know that it is their place to toil away for only a meager salary, which after rent and utilities and bills, should only allow them a few hundred dollars to live on?! The very idea of paying these people for actual overtime worked is just outrageous! How dare they even attempt to bill for that? If this continues, some of these lowly police officers who daily work in areas that you wouldn't even drive through might get the impression that they were worth something.
/sarc off
The police officer worked over 1600 hours of overtime people.
That is an average of 34 hours above his 40 hour week (74 hour work week). And he did that for a year.
Most people expect time and a half for their overtime.
He makes $70K and got an additional $78K thats significantly below the time and a half.
I salute his dedication to duty and hard work. The story is Hype nothing more. Not sure how direct pay, affects the completely separate account (by law) of the pension fund.
But calculating that into pension plans that the taxpayers will pay is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S.
Gee, you'd think they were risking their lives or something. (/sarcasm)
"I salute his dedication to duty and hard work. The story is Hype nothing more. Not sure how direct pay, affects the completely separate account (by law) of the pension fund."
Not sure it was dedication to anything other than his own wallet.
His supervisor should be fired though. How can this guy be mentally alert enough after working those kinda hours. Thats assuming he actually worked them.
I'd like to know if these people were actually working all those hours, or were just clocked in.
Did he, now? I think that's the whole point - such numbers are highly suspicious, and smack of overtime sheets approved by superiors in a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" fashion, rather than an actual reflection of hours worked.
if so, that's an average of 14 hours per day for 5 days a week for 48 weeks... how can a person function? not saying it's not possible, just painful
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