FOCUS: PUBLIC PENSIONS
Government double-dippers collect pensions while on the job
Margaret Orrange served 30 years as North Collins town clerk before retiring. Well, sort of retiring. She filed her retirement papers in December 2007, at 62, even though she had won re-election to another four-year term the month before.
So Orrange was in Town Hall for the January 2008 swearing-in ceremony, and back on the job the next day — never missing a day’s work although she began collecting a pension from a job she still holds today.
It’s a similar story in the town of Brant, where Joseph N. Giambrone, now 69, began collecting his government pension in 2005 after 23 years as highway superintendent — even though he continued in the job and still holds it today.
State law generally allows people elected to office to double dip— collecting a full state pension from a previous government job as well as a paycheck from a local government one.
Orrange and Giambrone’s cases are noteworthy because they collect pensions from elected jobs they never left.
It’s allowed under state law, but it comes with a couple of stipulations: Their pension will not increase in future years despite their additional years on the job. And, their pension is generally halted at the point their paycheck reaches $30,000, although for many longtime elected officials, that limit ends when they turn 65.
Normally, Orrange would be collecting a $24,000 annual pension. But since her pay is $38,000, the pension is cut off at about $19,000, The News estimates. Next year, when she turns 65, however, Orrange can collect the full $24,000 pension as well as her full $38,000 paycheck, for a total of $62,000.
Giambrone, meanwhile, gets a $9,000 annual pension for his first 22 years as highway superintendent as well as his $22,600 salary as highway superintendent. The position is part time.
Some think the idea of collecting a government pension for a job a person never left is ridiculous.
“I think it stinks,” North Collins Supervisor Thomas O’Boyle said. “I don’t think it’s right. If I was going to retire, I would retire. I wouldn’t run for office. It’s ridiculous.”
Giambrone doesn’t see anything wrong with collecting a pension from an elected position he still holds.
“I was thinking of retiring and someone told me ‘No, Joe. Call Albany,’ ” he said. “I called up Albany and someone told me I could collect my pension and still get my same paycheck. What can I tell you? I’m not a lazy person. I enjoy working. I think it’s fine.”
Orrange says the arrangement actually helps the towns because they no longer pay into the pension fund for employees who collect a pension and paycheck. In her case, she said, that saves the town $6,000 a year.
Orrange said she learned she could start collecting her pension while still holding office when she attended a pension seminar a couple of years ago. She then did some calculations to determine how much her pension would increase in upcoming years. She determined she would be better off financially if she froze her pension at the current level and started collecting her pension while still working as town clerk.
Orrange said she doesn’t consider herself a double-dipper because the town is no longer paying into the pension fund from which she is now collecting.
And she said that technically, she doesn’t view herself as being in the same job because the position is new with each election.
“This is what was advised to me by the pension fund, and it saves the town money,” she said. “It’s not like I’m cheating anybody. I have a pattern of saving money for the community. I’ve gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for sidewalks, the senior center. They get their money’s worth from me.”
But Orrange’s pension set off a firestorm of sorts in North Collins.
After Orrange ran unopposed in the November 2007 election, the supervisor and other Town Board members said they were surprised when she told them at the end of December that she would be submitting her retirement papers.
“We thought we’d have to appoint someone to replace her,” O’Boyle said.
Orrange said she explained the situation to O’Boyle, but the supervisor said the Town Board didn’t know Orrange was returning to work until she arrived at the swearing-in ceremony in January.
“I was stunned,” O’Boyle said.
That’s when the infighting began. The Town Board cut the clerk’s annual salary to $30,000 since her pension would cut off when her salary reached $30,000, O’Boyle said.
Orrange was furious. She hired a lawyer. The Town Board backed down and restored the $38,000 salary. “They were being spiteful,” Orrange said. “They didn’t understand.”
Beyond those two cases, a somewhat similar situation with a different twist occurred in 2008 when Lancaster Councilwoman Donna G. Stempniak, then 55, began receiving her pension.
Stempniak was re-elected to the Town Board in November 2007, but resigned for one week at the end of December. Then, in January, she was sworn in to a new term, and remains on the board.
The move coincided with a decision to retire from her full-time job as a Buffalo teacher.
The one-week resignation was necessary so Stempniak could transfer her town pension into her teaching pension, officials in the New York State Retirement System said.
The move increased the salary that Stempniak’s teacher pension calculation was based on and resulted in her pension being based on the more generous Tier 2 pension system, rather than Tier 3, officials said.
Stempniak’s pension is about $1,000 a month greater than it would have been without the town pension credits; however, she can no longer accrue pension credits even though she remains on the Lancaster Town Board.
Stempniak is currently eligible for a $67,044 annual pension, but she elected to collect less now, and defer a portion to the future. She continues to collect her $18,467 board pay.
Lancaster officials were supportive of Stempniak’s pension maneuver, noting that they save about $1,600 annually by no longer paying into the retirement system for her.
But some community activists in Lancaster remain upset.
“What is going on here? It doesn’t seem right,” said Lancaster resident Carolyn Gierke. “You get elected, then say you resign, then go back to the same job. It’s a sleight-of-hand. She should have been more forthcoming with taxpayers.”
Stempniak said she retired from teaching to care for her mother, and that after talking with retirement officials, opted to transfer her town pension into her teaching pension.
“I just wanted to make a clean sweep,” she said. “I didn’t know what would be happening [in the future].”
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