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Florida may tighten lucrative DROP provision for government retirees
Associated Press
10:50 AM EDT, July 21, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - It's an offer many private sector workers wish they could get -- briefly retire and take thousands in a lump sum payment. Then go back to work at your old job and collect both a full salary and a pension.
Roughly 100,000 Florida state employees, teachers and other education employees have done just that. They're taking advantage of a 10-year-old program originally designed to keep talented and experienced people in hard-to-fill jobs like police or firefighters.
But now some Florida lawmakers want to tighten the Deferred Retirement Option Program, saying decisions on who can or cannot participate have become too political. Gov. Charlie Crist also has criticized DROP, arguing it has too many loopholes that make it an easy target for abuse.
In March, more than 1,200 state employees were collecting two or more pensions, with 131 of them collecting at least two pensions and a salary.
Those getting two pensions and a salary include school principals, teachers, sheriff's deputies, health department employees, deputy clerks of the court and other public employees in Florida, a records review by the St. Petersburg Times found.
Many of the state employees receiving more than one pension retired years ago and work to supplement relatively low retirement payments. Many are teachers in areas such as Miami-Dade County, where the school system faces a teacher shortage.
But more than 200 elected officials and 200 senior managers have quietly retired and continued to work, with many remaining in the same job where they earned their pension.
Florida has made it too easy for employees to take advantage of the system, said Keith Brainard, director of research for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.
Many of these employees are enrolled in the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program, called DROP. It was created in 1998 to encourage retirement of highly paid, senior employees to make room for advances among younger, lower-paid employees.
But state lawmakers amended the law to help a fellow legislator collect a pension he had earned before his election to the Legislature. Now anyone who enrolled in DROP after July 1, 2002, can take a month off work and then return at full salary.
Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, tried unsuccessfully to change the law last year with a bill that would have prohibited employees from being rehired by the same agency. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has introduced a bill (SB 2830) this year that would prevent elected officials from collecting a salary and a pension.
The Florida House also is looking at the issue, said Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, chairman of the House Council on Government Efficiency.
"It is obvious we have to do something," Attkisson said. "The idea that elected officials can retire, take a chunk of change and keep going is just appalling
Associated Press
10:50 AM EDT, July 21, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - It's an offer many private sector workers wish they could get -- briefly retire and take thousands in a lump sum payment. Then go back to work at your old job and collect both a full salary and a pension.
Roughly 100,000 Florida state employees, teachers and other education employees have done just that. They're taking advantage of a 10-year-old program originally designed to keep talented and experienced people in hard-to-fill jobs like police or firefighters.
But now some Florida lawmakers want to tighten the Deferred Retirement Option Program, saying decisions on who can or cannot participate have become too political. Gov. Charlie Crist also has criticized DROP, arguing it has too many loopholes that make it an easy target for abuse.
In March, more than 1,200 state employees were collecting two or more pensions, with 131 of them collecting at least two pensions and a salary.
Those getting two pensions and a salary include school principals, teachers, sheriff's deputies, health department employees, deputy clerks of the court and other public employees in Florida, a records review by the St. Petersburg Times found.
Many of the state employees receiving more than one pension retired years ago and work to supplement relatively low retirement payments. Many are teachers in areas such as Miami-Dade County, where the school system faces a teacher shortage.
But more than 200 elected officials and 200 senior managers have quietly retired and continued to work, with many remaining in the same job where they earned their pension.
Florida has made it too easy for employees to take advantage of the system, said Keith Brainard, director of research for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.
Many of these employees are enrolled in the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program, called DROP. It was created in 1998 to encourage retirement of highly paid, senior employees to make room for advances among younger, lower-paid employees.
But state lawmakers amended the law to help a fellow legislator collect a pension he had earned before his election to the Legislature. Now anyone who enrolled in DROP after July 1, 2002, can take a month off work and then return at full salary.
Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, tried unsuccessfully to change the law last year with a bill that would have prohibited employees from being rehired by the same agency. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has introduced a bill (SB 2830) this year that would prevent elected officials from collecting a salary and a pension.
The Florida House also is looking at the issue, said Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, chairman of the House Council on Government Efficiency.
"It is obvious we have to do something," Attkisson said. "The idea that elected officials can retire, take a chunk of change and keep going is just appalling
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