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Cuomo to hold school pensions hearings on LI

BY ROBERT E. KESSLER | robert.kessler@newsday.com

9:59 PM EDT, May 15, 2008

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that he and a bipartisan group of state legislators will hold hearings on Long Island next week on the improper granting of pensions and other benefits by schools, special districts and local governments.

Cuomo's office, along with federal and other state agencies, has been investigating whether there has been a massive granting of improper benefits to professionals employed in the school districts and other government units.

Cuomo has credited stories in Newsday for prompting his investigation.

"The fraud that this investigation has already uncovered is inexcusable, and it's going to end now," Cuomo said in a news release. "At the hearings, we will explore not only the current state of our investigation, but also potential legislative solutions that may save taxpayers millions of dollars going forward."

A number of lawyers around the state who improperly received pensions as if they were employees, but actually were contract workers not entitled to them, have reached settlements with Cuomo's office. But Cuomo has said that the practice may be widespread and his investigation is ongoing.

Earlier this week, Cuomo announced that he was expanding his pension probe to an investigation of the practice of "double-dipping" by school administrators -- the hiring of retired officials who are receiving pensions who then also get paychecks for interim jobs.

Along with Cuomo, also conducting the hearing will be state Sens. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson); and Assembly members Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) and Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead).

The public hearing is scheduled for Thursday. The location on Long Island has yet to be determined, as are the names of people expected to be asked to give testimony.

Skelos, who is the Senate's deputy majority leader, said, "Taxpayers have the right to expect that every penny of their school taxes is spent in the classroom. This practice is an abuse of the taxpayers, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and I are working together to develop comprehensive legislation that will ensure that this type of fraud never occurs again."

Sweeney said, "The average Employee Retirement System member receives a pension of less than $15,000. The average pension in the Teachers' Retirement System is $34,412. It's galling that some of these local appointed officials 'game' the system."

Referring to the practice of double-dipping, Hooper said, "We are holding hearings to make clear that it is no longer OK to ignore this widespread problem. Attorney General Cuomo is on the front lines of this battle to root out fraud and see that state funds and benefits are properly spent."

Glen Cove School Superintendent Laurence Aronstein, who, Newsday has reported, declined to put an attorney who requested pension benefits on the district's payroll, said the hearings would be "healthy."

"I think the fact that they're reaching out into the field . . . is critically important," he said.