Getting paid for a job not done

It is an accepted scenario in the civil-service world. But a taxpayer hearing it for the first time might think it comes from some other world.

Under the practice known as release time, a certain number of officials of public-sector unions are excused from their formal jobs to work on labor issues, at full pay. The arrangement is lawful and common in the region, the result of collective bargaining agreements with government employers.

But there is more to the picture. In some cases, the public pays union brass more than if they actually performed the police jobs for which they were hired. The rationale: by representing the union, they are missing out on overtime pay and other extras.

"A gross abuse of taxpayers' money," then-Nassau Executive Thomas Suozzi called it in 2005 when he tried to slash the $171,000 county salary of Gary DelaRaba, then Nassau Police Benevolent Association president, by about $47,000.

"Pay for not working," a county-hired lawyer called it at the time. "The rest of the world doesn't work like this."

In the case of DelaRaba and six other PBA officers, an arbitrator awarded the extra pay based on "lost" overtime, wages and even potential moonlighting income. The fight went to court. In 2007, however, the county settled -- with Suozzi saying the case would cost too much to pursue.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has been railing for years about the practice. "It's so ridiculous that union leaders have taxpayers paying them a salary to be full-time lobbyists and overtime for which they never work," he said, once again, Thursday. "Plus, night differential of 12 percent, though they were working days only." Levy said the officers get K-9 unit pay -- even without having a dog.

"This is simply unsustainable," Levy continued, saying the solution rests with state lawmakers changing the laws on mandatory arbitration.

The controversial practice goes beyond Long Island.

At the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with a well-paid police force of about 1,400, the PBA's president, first and second vice presidents and treasurer receive annual salaries set 10 percent above the maximum base.

Authority officials say the union officers also receive an added allotment of vacation days that can be cashed out if unused. But Robert Egbert, the union's public relations officer, said the typical union leader's pension is about 30 percent less than the typical member's.

But one regional law-enforcement official groused: "Why is it the public's responsibility for compensating them because they chose to work for the union?"

In Suffolk, 28 union officials are on release time, according to Jeffrey Tempera, the county's civil-service director; five are with the PBA.

In 2008, the county added up the taxpayer cost of full-time release for the PBA alone, considering salaries, benefits and extras, plus a pool of 800 additional leave days that the union gets to apportion among members. That came to $1,153,333 for the year, Tempera said.

And, of course, all salary boosts increase the cops' pensions.