Cuomo reveals widespread pension padding

By Joyce Kryszak

Buffalo, NY – With hard evidence of abuse, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is vowing to put an end to the loophole that allows public employees to pad their pensions.

Cuomo was at his Buffalo office Thursday to release the preliminary results of his investigation into pension padding. Payroll records show that more than half the public employers his office investigated - 28 of 50 employers in 13 counties - showed patterns of abuse.

The data indicates employees were allowed to take extra overtime in the year before retiring to inflate their average salary - sometimes doubling it.

In one example, a 2009 retiree who was an operator group supervisor nearly tripled his overtime in the year before retiring. He put in 1,191 hours of overtime, totalling $67,000. That was on top of his annual salary of $69,000.

And those inflated salaries mean inflated pension payments - adding up to hundreds of million of dollars over time. Cuomo said the abuse must end.

"These things have been going on for too long, but nothing ever happens," said Cuomo. We've been bemoaning it for too long," said Cuomo. "It's time for that to stop...literally we can't afford it anymore.

Over 20 years, Cuomo said those padded pensions could mean an extra $300 million passed on to taxpayers through property taxes.

He called on employers to clamp down on abuses and asked employees to exercise "personal integrity." But he acknowledged that, ultimately, it might take legislation to close the loophole.

Cuomo was flanked by some members of the Western New York delegation. Lawmakers said, if needed, they would fight to pass legislation that would halt abuses. Senator Dale Volker - who will himself soon retire - said they could enact reform, even if public employee unions try to block it.

But for now, Cuomo said the investigation continues. His office will look into the records of about 25 more public employers. He said if any cases of true fraud are uncovered, such as unnecessary overtime, it could mean criminal charges.