Bergen County Sheriffs Office leads New Jersey in double-dipping by county cops
February 28,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Under Sheriff Michael Saudino Bergen County leads New Jersey in double-dipping by county cops. The sheriff and four of his undersheriffs collectively reap a million dollars a year in pension pay on top of their six-figure salaries.
First-year Sheriff Michael Saudino ranks first among all double-dippers, raking in a whopping $268,000 a year. Saudino, 59, gets a $130,000 pension for retiring as Emerson Borough police chief on Dec. 31, plus a$138,000 salary since taking office as sheriff the following day.
Undersheriff Steven Librie gleans $219,000 a year – $115,000 in salary and $104,000 in pension. Librie, 50,retired as deputy police chief of Teaneck Twp. in August 2010, then was hired as undersheriff in January.
Undersheriff Brian P. Smith hauls in $218,000 a year – his $110,000 salary plus a $108,000 pension. He retired at age 50 from the Paramus Police Dept. in 2005, then he was hired as undersheriff this year.
Undersheriff Robert A. Colaneri receives in $204,000 a year – a $110,000 salary plus $94,000 in pension. Colaneri, 56, was hired as undersheriff in January 2011 after retiring from Carlstadt Borough in 2006.
Undersheriff Harry Shortway Jr. gets $186,000 a year – his $110,000 salary plus $76,000 in pension. Shortway, 72, retired from Ridgewood Village in 2001, then was hired by Bergen County as undersheriff in January 2011.
It gets worse and its a statewide problem ,according to Mark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog . Gov. Chris Christie while preaching pension reform hasn’t done much to curb double dipping by public employees.
New Jersey’s costly tradition of double-dipping — allowing government employees to “retire,” start collecting a pension and then return to work for the state, often the next day or week.
By the end of 2012 New Jersey Watchdog found 60 double-dippers who collect a total of nearly $10 million a year — $4.4 million in pensions in addition to $5.5 million in state salaries.
One-third of them were hired under the Christie administration with duties as government officials to protect taxpayers from fiscal foul play and abuses of the public trust. They include:
By the end of 2012 three investigators for the Office of State Comptroller — John Silver, Joseph Celli and Richard Nuel — collectively receive $262,415 a year in pensions plus in $276,000 in salaries. OSC is charged with uncovering waste, abuse and fraud in government.
Assistant Insurance Commissioner Joseph Brennan claims $204,857 a year — $123,000 in salaryand $81,857 from pension. Brennan heads a unit that investigates insurance fraud.
Medical Marijuana Director John O’Brien harvests $167,889 a year — $83,889 in pension plus his$84,000 salary from the Department of Health.
Thomas Flarity, director of security, investigations and audits for the Motor Vehicle Commission, counts on $188,544 a year — $105,000 in salary and $83,544 from pension.
Christie’s Deputy Chief of Staff Louis Goetting (pronounced “getting”) gets $228,860 a year —$140,000 in salary plus $88,860 from pension. Goetting is Christie’s budget guru on cutting the cost of government.
That year Christie gave his deputy chief a $10,000 annual raise this year, following New Jersey Watchdog’s report that Goetting had received$1.1 million in early retirement pay and severance packages from public coffers.
The 60 double-dippers receive an average of $165,000 a year — $73,517 from pension plus $92,461 in salary. Fifty-seven are state law enforcement officials who retired under a special law that allows them to receive full pensions after 25 years regardless of age. Twenty-eight retired while still in their 40s.
While this is only the tip of the iceberg for the state pension mess some estimates for fully funding pension promises accrued to date would require an immediate payment of either $37 billion, $83 billion, or $150 billion depending on whether you get your numbers from public plan actuaries, GASB, or me.https://burypensions.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/how-n-j-got-into-this-pension-mess/
Moody’s says the New Jersey Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF) “could fully expend their assets as soon as 2024 and 2027… even assuming the funds meet assumed investment returns.”https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy-policy/2014/12/03/moodys-nj-pensions-to-run-dry-in-ten-years/
And by some estimates New Jersey pension system faces as much as a $170 billion short fall.https://watchdog.org/186029/new-jersey-pension-debt/
