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Nassau seeks payback for questioned pension credits

BY SANDRA PEDDIE AND EDEN LAIKIN | sandra.peddie@newsday.com
eden.laikin@newsday.com

The New York State comptroller is reviewing the case of a private attorney in Nassau County who received 21 years of retroactive pension credits -- helping him earn a six-figure annual pension -- even though he had been paid as an independent contractor all those years, a spokesman said Monday.

In a separate action, Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman urged the state to reimburse the county for the $102,246 it paid to get that attorney, Albert D'Agostino of Valley Stream, the credits. Weitzman also questioned whether D'Agostino was entitled to county health insurance, a benefit potentially worth up to $500,000 over his lifetime.

"I want our money back," Weitzman said. Dennis Tompkins, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's spokesman, said the office is reviewing D'Agostino's case, "as well as several others."

"In any of these cases, if it's determined that a pension was wrongly granted, our office will take appropriate corrective action, including returning money to localities, if necessary," he said.

D'Agostino retired in October 2000 with a $106,702 pension. That year, the state retroactively gave him full-time credit for the 21 years, from 1979 to 2000, that he worked as a consultant to the Nassau County Planning Commission, a part-time advisory board. Under state law, only employees, not outside contractors, are entitled to public pensions.

D'Agostino, 64, is prominent in the Nassau Republican Party. He has represented high-profile clients such as former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato.

D'Agostino said he did nothing wrong. "The matter was thoroughly reviewed both at the county level and at the state level," he said. "Everything was done properly."

Weitzman and DiNapoli were not in their current offices when D'Agostino got the credits.

The county helped D'Agostino secure the valuable pension credits while in the middle of a fiscal crisis. Saddled with a deficit of more than $300 million and a plummeting bond rating, the county had been placed under the authority of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which ordered millions in budget cuts.

The state comptroller's office based its decision to give D'Agostino the credits on letters from two prominent people connected to the planning commission, as well as his 1099 forms, tax forms used to pay independent contractors.

Weitzman said the letters should not have been accepted as evidence of D'Agostino's employment.

D'Agostino was also reported as a part-time employee by Hempstead Town, Valley Stream village and three school districts, Valley Stream No. 30, Lawrence and North Merrick.