[quote=equalizer]This may have been posted elsewhere, but it’s worth repeating about pension spiking. TG has correctly stated that salaries and benefits of peace/corrections officers/fireman is tiny portion of budget, but it is wrong on principle (think Javert in Les Misérables) if there are massive budget problems and fair market value of comparable jobs, say nuclear workers or front line soldiers, is lower.
Not to say that most aren’t tremendously loyal servants like Glenn Allen, the 61 year old L.A. firefighter with 36 years on the job who tragically died putting out a fire last month.
Just want to point out that instead of focusing on the one doing the “double-dipping,” we should ask what the net cost/benefit is to the employer.
Employers like the DROP program because it costs the employer **LESS** than if they would have to hire a new person for the position. That’s because they do not have to make pension contributions for the retired/rehired person, whereas they would have to make these contributions for someone not in the DROP program.
Employers will often used a DROP program employee if there is a current or upcoming project in the works that requires the expertise of the retiring employee. Sometimes, they are actually in the process of eliminating a position, but need to finish some tasks or projects first, so would rather rehire someone temporarily (who is also very experienced and knowledgeable), so that they won’t have to incur the costs of hiring, and possibly re-training, a new person. They also save by not having to make the pension contributions.
Again, there is a lot of misinformation going around that is 100% based on envy. What we have to look at is the net cost/benefit to taxpayers, not what the employee is making, personally. BTW, there is a five-year max for this program, but most of the DROP employees I’ve known about (very few) only participate for a few months or maybe a year. Again, it’s usually done in order to complete a particular project or task. It’s not done as a way to make extra money.
