Findings from TUA’s pension project on Harrisburg are featured in this article at the Times-Tribune.
HARRISBURG – Former state Sen. Robert J. Mellow’s legal fate is tied to a federal plea agreement while a state law will determine whether he gets to keep his sizeable pension or not.
Mr. Mellow collects a $138,958 annual taxpayer-funded state pension. When Mr. Mellow left the Senate at the end of 2010, he also collected $331,025 in a lump-sum pension payment from the state retirement system.
The 23-page plea agreement released Thursday by the U.S. attorney’s office makes no mention of Mr. Mellow’s pension. State retirement officials will use the state Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act or Act 140 to determine if Mr. Mellow’s planned guilty plea to the crimes of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and filing a false federal income tax in relation to his job as a senator triggers pension forfeiture.
Under this law, pension forfeiture is tied to specified crimes relating to employment “that breach the (SERS) member’s duty of faithful and honest public service,” according to the State Employee Retirement System.
The specified crimes include bribery, forgery, perjury, tampering with records, false reports to law enforcement authorities and certain crimes like theft by extortion and misapplication of entrusted property that reach the level of a misdemeanor offense.
“For every potential forfeiture case, SERS staff reviews the official court documents to determine if the (SERS) member was sentenced or pled to an Act 140 crime and if there is a tie to the member’s employment,” said SERS spokeswoman Pamela Hile on Thursday.
Case law has held that a conviction occurs at the point of sentencing or entry of a guilty or no contest plea, she added.
Mr. Mellow’s annual defined-benefit pension is based on his leadership-based salary, 40 years in the Senate and monetary contributions he made.
SERS allows retirees to also collect a lump-sum payment like Mr. Mellow has done which reflect any or all of the salary withheld from his paycheck over the years along with four percent interest. Taking the lump sum reduces the annual pension amount.
A Chicago-based taxpayer group that is seeking reforms in public pensions released this week information it compiled about top public pensions in Pennsylvania. Mr. Mellow’s annual pension ranks second among the top 25 state lawmaker pensions, said Taxpayers United of America.
Among lawmakers, the top annual $286,118 pension is collected by former Rep. Frank Oliver, a Philadelphia Democrat, according to Taxpayers United. The third highest pension is collected by former Sen. Raphael Musto, the long-serving Luzerne County Democrat who retired in 2010. Mr. Musto has a $127,033 annual pension. A federal grand jury indicted Mr. Musto on charges that he accepted $35,000 in free building renovations from Wilkes-Barre developer Robert K. Mericle as a reward for supporting state financing for a commercial park built by Mericle’s company. Mr. Mericle has not been charged in the case. Mr. Musto’s trial was postponed from February to at least June 4 because his lawyers say he is too ill to prepare for his corruption trial.
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Altoona and Blair County are featured in this article at the Altoona Mirror. UPDATE: A response to this article has been made here.
Altoona Fire Chief Reynold D. Santone Jr. disagrees with a Chicago-based organization that claims he is double dipping.Representatives of Taxpayers United of America stopped in Altoona on Tuesday to discuss the results of a new pension study that is says exposes the top pensions for the retired government employees of Altoona and Blair County, which range as high as $1.4 million and to push for pension system reform.
Santone is receiving an annual pension of $48,328 from the City of Altoona with an estimated lifetime pension payout of $1,449,835, according to the study.
“He is the current fire chief, and he is in the pension system now,” said Vice President Christina Tobin, whose father, Jim, founded the grassroots organization in 1976. “He is collecting a pension from the pension system today. It is like he is double dipping.”
Santone said that is not the case.
He said he dropped out of the pension plan in 2009 but remained employed by the city as fire chief.
“I am not getting pension money. My pension was frozen in 2009. I had to give up post-retirement health care and 101 sick days to get into the plan,” Santone said. “I can’t touch that money until I actually retire from the City of Altoona. It is not like I am getting paid by the City of Altoona and getting a pension.”
Blair County Sheriff Mitchell Cooper, who retired as an Altoona police officer in 2008 after nearly 26 years on the force, is at the top of the Altoona Police pensions list, the taxpayers group said.
Cooper is receiving an annual pension of $42,852 with an estimated lifetime pension payout of $1,285,564.
Cooper said he is receiving the pension money.
“I put my time in and am getting the pension the city and FOP [Fraternal Order of Police] agreed to over the years,” Cooper said. “I don’t believe that Altoona police officers’ pensions compare to those of some other agencies. There are members of other police agencies that make more than the Altoona police.”
Meanwhile, TUA members will be in Harrisburg today to deliver letters to Gov. Tom Corbett and members of the General Assembly.
“We are calling for meaningful pension reform here in Pennsylvania,” Tobin said. “Ending pensions for all new government hires will eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions. Putting new government hires into Social Security and 401(k)s would achieve this.”
The group also is calling for all government employees participating in a government pension fund to contribute an additional 10 percent toward their pension.
“Our position is to pay these people a fair wage and let them save for their own retirement. Pay people for the job they do and let them save for their own retirement,” TUA Director of Outreach Rae Ann McNeilly said.
View release as a PDF
PHILADELPHIA—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today revealed retired government employee pensions for the City of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania statewide government teachers. Many Pennsylvania government employees are becoming pension millionaires when retired.
“Many government retirees make more in pension payments than the private sector taxpayers make in salaries,” stated Christina Tobin, TUA Vice President. “Both the economy and the pension system are in serious trouble. While taxpayers struggle to save for their own retirement and fund the pension system, government retirees have to be concerned that their pension payments will continue.”
“I have delivered letters to Gov. Corbett and each member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, calling for meaningful pension reforms that will be both fair and sustainable. TUA is ready to work with legislators to implement reforms that will preserve the system for those that are relying on it, and bring relief to the taxpayers who are obligated to fund it.”
“Private sector taxpayers are struggling in the ‘Great Recession,’ with an average income of $56,000.
The unemployment/underemployment rate (U6) is 14.9%. The maximum Social Security annual payout is $22,000, regardless of how much one may have earned in their working career.”
“Sylvester Johnson, retired Philadelphia government employee, collects an annual pension of $152,440. His estimated lifetime payout is $4,573,199.*”
“Vincent Jannetti, retired from the Philadelphia government, has an annual pension of $133,097 with an estimated lifetime payout of $3,992,915*.”
“Retired Pennsylvania teacher, Anthony V. Costello, has a lifetime estimated payout of $6,680,556* based on his actual annual pension of $222,685.”
“Pennsylvania government pension systems are making millionaires out of public employees at taxpayer expense. Ending pensions for all new government hires and replacing with social security and 401(k)s would eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions. If government employees would just increase their pension contributions, they would preserve their pension benefits. Anything less will ensure the system’s collapse and Pennsylvania government retirees will get nothing. We need a stable system that is fair to both taxpayers and beneficiaries.”
“Every employee deserves a fair wage for the work they do at the time they do it so they can plan for their own retirement, rather than counting on the bureaucrats who helped create such an unstable situation.”
“This is the time for the political courage to do what’s in the best interest of taxpayers, rather than the special interests. Let’s knock any politician out-of-office who cuts bad deals with union bosses and corporations! Republican or Democrat, what’s the difference, with numbers like these?”
View pension amounts below:
All annual pensions included in this report are derived by annualizing the benefit amount provided by the legal representative of the subject fund.
