Postal Service glitch holds up state pension checks

ALBANY - Nine out of 10 state pension checks sent to Long Island last month haven't arrived due to a glitch by the U.S. Postal Service, officials said Thursday.

About 6,600 checks from a total of 7,300 for retired state and local government employees were missing, according to Emily DeSantis of the state comptroller's office. The lost checks bear ZIP codes beginning with 115, 117 and 119.

Long Island is the only region where checks still have not been found. DeSantis said checks bound for Buffalo, Rochester, Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls had been located and were being delivered.

The problem arose after postal workers on Dec. 30 picked up the retirement payments from the comptroller in Albany for processing at a nearby mail distribution center. "There were problems with some trays being misdirected . . . about 20 percent of Long Island's 150 post offices have received complaints," said postal service spokesman Tom Gaynor.

He added, "There have been reports of checks being delivered [Thursday] . . . I don't know if all the checks have been located."

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, sole trustee of the pension fund, urged retirees to call 866-805-0990 to request a new check be issued.

Only 16 percent of the 350,000 retirees in the pension system receive paper checks. Most have their payments deposited directly in bank accounts.

DiNapoli said, "Retirees shouldn't have to wonder how they're going to pay their bills because the post office couldn't keep track of the mail."

Gaynor said he didn't have details "on how the checks for Long Island were misdirected."

In Manorville Thursday, Alvin and Kathy Nowicki worried about how to pay their $3,752 property-tax bill due Jan. 10. The couple, who retired in 2008 after long careers in the Riverhead courts, has already dipped into savings to pay the mortgage and monthly bills. Their combined pension is $6,600 per month.

"This is very upsetting," said Alvin, who spent 38 years in State Supreme Court. "Where did those checks go? There needs to be an investigation. They must make sure this doesn't happen again."