DiNapoli targets pension double-dippers

ALBANY -- Scofflaws who cheat the state pension system by retiring, then returning to work for full salaries, would be easier to catch under a plan proposed Tuesday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

The measure would give DiNapoli's office the ability to pull payroll records from the state Tax Department's wage reporting system to determine if a retiree who has returned to work for a local government is earning more than he or she is entitled to -- $30,000 annually in most instances. Right now, the comptroller can monitor only those retirees who return to work for the state -- but not for a county, village or town.

"It is a loophole in a sense that we have a policing ability and oversight on state employees, but we don't for local government [employees]," DiNapoli said. "Right now, it's kind of an honor system. People are supposed to let us know what they make. But that's not always a perfect system."

DiNapoli's proposal is just the latest in a series aimed at reducing state pension costs. A day earlier, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he'd soon propose a new, less-expensive pension plan for new public employees that would raise the retirement age from 62 to 65 and increase the amount employees pay into the system. It drew a strong rebuke from labor unions -- and from some state legislators who note the state just changed the pension system two years ago and the results are yet to be seen.

"It's too soon," said Assemb. Peter Abbate Jr. (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Committee on Governmental Employees. "If you do a new pension system every year because of budget reasons, then you don't have a true pension system. And years down the road, you're going to have group after group coming to us, asking for parity."

DiNapoli is essentially seeking more tools to enforce a state law that limits most retirees to a maximum of $30,000 annual income without incurring pension penalties. There is no maximum for those 65 or older. The comptroller's office regularly checks earnings of retirees younger than 65 who came back to work for the state -- that led to it spotting 31 people in 2009 who exceeded the cap.

The oversight also acts as a deterrent to keep the numbers low, DiNapoli said.

Catching those who flout the cap at a local level depends on audits, press reports or whistleblowers, the Democrat said. Earlier this year, Oneida County officials announced the conviction of former Rome police officer Thomas C. Hubal for earning more than his pension limit over a nine-year period. Hubal was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to repay the state $88,000.

DiNapoli said if his proposal were already law, Hubal would have been caught the first year his pay exceeded the cap.