Should top cops be allowed to gild their pensions?

   Should the top cop be able to pad his pension with overtime and similar benefits? Of is a six-figure salary enough compensation for all the work that goes into being a police chief?

   While most police chiefs in the Buffalo area don't get OT-type benefits, there are exceptions.

    A retired Hamburg police chief got about $11,000 in overtime during his final year with the force.

   And two retired Town of Tonawanda chiefs got about $10,000 each in their final year by working extra days, although at straight time, not overtime pay, according to retired chief Samuel Palmiere.

    Aside from the higher salary, the extra money offered to chiefs at the end of their careers allows them to bump up their pensions in the same way rank-and-file officers sometimes
do.

   What do you think? Extra pay for the top cops or no extra pay?

     -- Susan Schulman

   

Comments

[boomhauer]

Good Lord another story on this Schulman? Do you not have anything else to write about? BLUF: A bunch of losers defaulted on mortgages they couldn't afford. Got it. Now the public wants someone to blame. What's that you say? Police officers get PAID for working? With taxpayer money no less? That's just unacceptable. I suggest we fire every single police officer in western New York and take all of their money back. Can you believe the nerve of those dirty rotten scoundrels expecting payment for their time and effort?

[PJA]

"Pad his pension." Don't you think that's a loaded question, which implies wrong doing? The cops have a pension and if they want to work harder towards the end of their police careers so they don't have to eat dog food when they retire or worry about paying their bills if they're struck with a catastrophic illness in old age, what exactly is the problem?

Personally, I think it's in the best interests of the citizens, too. The cops--experienced cops--are out there on the street making more arrests, putting bad guys in jail, and yes, testifying in court an getting court time.

How anyone can see anything negative or suspcious about any of this baffles me.

How about an "expose" on college kids working extra hours at Wegmans to help pay for their books? I mean, oh my god, people working harder! How awful!

[boomhauer]

PJA, do you mean to tell me that this "overtime" exists in the private sector too? I will not stand for this belief in working harder in order to receive more pay! We must follow the lead of the welfare recipients. They are the true Americans, as they refuse to let any man tell how to spend their time, yet manage to reap the full financial beneifts of hard work at the same time.

[Lydia Bezou-Hojnacki]

PJA, you asked, "How anyone can see anything negative or suspcious about any of this baffles me."

I find it outrageous that governments who allow this were so very shortsighted in granting inflated "salaries" to people who are no longer working when the amount of "retirement gifting" might be used for department upgrades or for hiring two new people.

Why wasn't the retirement plan based on average earnings at base salary? That is the million dollar question. This retirement situation is thoroughly disgusting.

I AM OUTRAGED AT THE GREED SO EVIDENT IN THE "GIMME, GIMME OVERTIME SO I CAN BE PAID FOR NOT WORKING THE REST OF MY LIFE"

SAD that this plan actually was devised by brain dead idiots. Retirees are no longer serving the public; they do not need more than 25% of their average annual base salary. Anything more is government waste at its finest.

[boomhauer]

Lydia, so worker who reties at $24k is expected to live on a pension of $6K? You believe this, yet have the nerve to call someone else a "brain dead idiot?"

"No longer serving the public" eh? Sounds to me then like teachers should be first in line to get pay cuts. At least retired police officers only make a fraction of their working salary while not "serving the public" in retirement. Teachers make their full working salary while sitting on the butts during June, July, August, Christmastime, Easter, that random new week in the middle of February, MLK, Presidents Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, amd Memorial Day. Last time I checked, police officers didn't get these days off when they were working.

[boomhauer]

Sweet cream on an ice cream sandwich stop the presses! Get a load of the pension database in Schulman's article. The highest police officer pension in Erie/Niagara county is $104K, and he is the ONLY ONE above $100k.
Let's look at teachers for a comparaison shall we?

-The highest teacher pension was $316k.
-Again for emphasis: $316k!
-9 others have pensions of over $200k.

I'd tell you how many teachers had pensions of over $100k, but I lost count after 14 PAGES OF NAMES of teachers doing so. Go have a look for yourself.

Why are we begrudging police officers their measely pittance compared to these fat cats suckling at the taxpayer teat.

[Camino Reality]

This story is like looking at a little fire in a fireplace while the CEO morphed financial arsonists have set conflagration fires across American and the globe and the breathing air is saturated with choking smoke.

[boomhauer]

$316K! To a teacher! Who's retired! This guy better have been teaching kids the meaning of life or how to cure cancer.

[Chancellor Carlyle Roberts, II]

Should top cops be allowed to gild their pensions? No; nor should any other government official.

[jlm1962]

They also are not required to contribute to the pension plan!!!

[Lydia Bezou-Hojnacki]

boomhauer,

You apparently don't realize that the teacher pay is for 10 months or 22 pay checks. At 60 hrs per week for 41 weeks of work, an experienced teacher averages $25.00/hr. If the teacher wants pay extended during the summer, a deduction to save the appropriate amount is taken from the other 22 paychecks and redistributed in July and August. Teachers are NOT paid during summer vacation.

I can't address the local pensions, as most of my years were in other districts; however in the short time I have been in the area, I can say that the individual contribution to retirement is considerable.

[david legault]

These officers are working overtime that is necessary work within their departments. This is not a free money grab! And please remember that when factory workers were making 30% more than a police officer it was partially due to negotiations that offered this pension benefit to police (and firefighters) instead of higher saleries.

[RWK]

All public pensions should be capped at 50% of the average wage over their entire career. This abuse is just that an Abuse of a loophole.

[Lydia Bezou-Hojnacki]

Boomhaur, concerning the 25% ceiling on pensions based on average base pay, I should have clarified that by no means was I suggesting $6,000 for a person with an average of $24,000 income while working. There would be a floor equivalent to the current poverty level for a single person. I believe that runs around $13,000 right now. The trick is to pay up your house, car, and credit card debt before deciding to retire.

I stand by my 25% figure, provided there is a $13,000 floor. The lower-income workers will be awarded a larger percentage--they usually work harder than the fat cats anyway.

[boomhauer]

Lydia, the number of paychecks teachers receive or the interval with which they receive them are inconsequential. The 22 paychecks you speak of still total a full year's salary, which is unfair. If teachers only work 10 months, they should only be paid for 10 months. Instead they are paid for 12 months of work during a 10-month period.

60 hours per week? Give me a break. Most teachers aren't even at work for a full 8 hours every day, and no teacher actually teaches the entire time they're at work. The free time during their workday is for correcting papers, so any teacher putting in 60 hours per week needs to go back to school for some time management classes.

[Carl]

RWK
Very good thinking, but maybe a more realistic approach would be 50% of last 5 years, with a cap on overtime during these years. Let's not forget the teachers, voters should check before they vote for any office and find out who is in the pocket of the teachers unions.

[Lydia Bezou-Hojnacki]

Boomhauer, you really don't get the 22 paycheck thing, do you? 22 paychecks is for 10 months. There is NO PAY handed out in July and August. Teachers are paid for 10 months only. And they don't just do their work during the school day. A conscientious teacher puts in as many hours of preparation outside the building as he/she teaches or does duty INSIDE the building. It averages to about 50 for experienced high school teachers and about 70 for new elementary teachers.

[wil]

In defense of teachers, they are salary based, you are offered a choice of receiving your entire salary during the course of the school year (10 months) or over the entire fiscal year (12 months). Secondly, Please post the source of these teachers recieving 316 k pension, i think you may be confusing them with administrators
(ie: Principals, superintendents)whose jobs/salary are completely different than teachers. Thirdly, I believe their holidays aren't much different than state, federal, county employees. Easter used to be two weeks together but now they separate them and give them one in February/March instead. There is no overtime pay for teachers as far as i know unless you consider coaching (extra curricular). Many teachers do put in over 40 hours a week, assessment is a lot of work and unless you have done it you would not know. In my opinion, the elementary level is much more work than middle or high school, because of the specialization required in the secondary level. For example, you teach one English lesson a day to 4 or 5 different classes (Secondary), as opposed to teaching many disciplines (math, reading. etc..) to one class k-6) all day. In 5th or 6th you might switch classes and teach only math and English, while someone else on your team teaches science and social. Preparation wise, you need to only plan one lesson a day (high school) as compared to 3 or 4 a day (Primary). Now as far as the police are concerned, everyone knows they have quotas and when they want extra money they hand out more tickets, so they can get the extra court time (overtime). This is no mystery, we have known this for years, I don't have a problem with it if they are arresting real bad guys and stuff. But if they are just hitting every tom, dick and harry with a ticket (because of broken headlight or fabricating tickets) to pad their overtime then it is fabricated overtime and pretty dishonest and unfair. What to do? Let's hear some ideas!!!

[Jeff]

60 hours a week as a teacher?!?! If you live 3 hours from the school you work at you should not count the 30 hours you spend commuting to work. Teachers are overpaid in New York state. Thats the bottom line.

[wil]

Overpaid as compared to whom? Politicians, CEO's, Police, Wall Street, Fireman? Teachers salary depend on which district they work in, ie -school budget, Teachers in Clarence make more than teachers in Holland etc..., In general, starting pay for teachers is roughly between 29,000 to 34,000 thousand a year depending on if you have a masters degree or not (although it is required to obtain permanent cert). Maybe we should go back to having every parent teach their own kids, no more school, imagine!!! it really would be idiocracy the movie..
"ow my .....

[boomhauer]

A $316K pension for a teacher is being overpaid! Am I crazy for believing that?

Lydia, you're still missing my point, so I'm going to state it again very clearly.

Teachers receive a yearly salary comparable to that of other public employees who work 12 months per year. However, teachers only work 10 months per year (minus the exorbitant vacations).

Therefore,the number of paychecks teachers receive does not matter. The interval between paychecks does not matter. The only thing that matters is the AMOUNT PAID.

Teachers make as much, if not more, than most other public employees in a year despite working fewer months. How is that fair?

So what if teachers don't get paychecks during July or August? Their high salaries during the other 10 months more than make up the difference. Look at the annual salary figures. You cannot argue that point.

[Obsever]

The biggest squawkers will be the ones who stand to lose the silverlined pension. Just ask the County Sheriff $100,000 club if they would like to part with theirs.

[boomhauer]

Observer, look at the statistics! There is no $100k club! There's only 1 cop in all of WNY making over $100k and he's not a sheriff! Besides, those pesnoions are all signed into law and backed by the federal (yeah the FEDERAL) government. You can't touch them. Of course, your son might not get his pension should he choose to beceom a police officer...good luck with that.

[Observer]

You need to check it out. Get your facts before you say it ain't so.

[PJA]

LOL Boomhauer! I hear ya. It is crazy.