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ALBUQUERQUE — A bill passed by the state legislature to rein in “double-dipping” by public employees may not pass constitutional muster, according to the state Attorney General’s Office, which is causing the governor to backtrack on his promise to sign the bill.
But the AG’s office itself has its share of double-dippers, NMI has learned, and the office is still not sharing with the public just what it is about the bill it doesn’t like.
The bill would modify a law passed in 2004 that allows public employees to retire as soon as they are eligible, at 20-25 years depending on the position, and then come back as rehired retirees earning both a salary and a pension. This practice has become commonly referred to as “double-dipping.”
Critics of the practice say it encourages employees to take the earliest retirement they can, rather than work until they’ve hit the highest pension they’re eligible for, or longer.
Asked about the AG office’s objections to the bill, spokesperson Phil Sisneros said he couldn’t explain, citing attorney-client privilege between the AG and the governor.
Records reveal, however, that 13 employees at the AG’s office itself are classified as “returning retirees.” These include high-level employees such as General Counsel Stuart Bluestone, Chief of Staff Michelle Garcia, Assistant Attorney General III Andrea Buzzard, and Director of Investigations Earl Holmes.
All of these employees earn salaries between $53,000 and $81,000, plus draw an annual pension.
According to the Associated Press, there are currently 2,200 retirees from state jobs who’ve gone back to work, representing about nine percent of the state pension program’s retirees.
Despite having pledged earlier that he would sign a bill to rein in the practice, Governor Bill Richardson, according to News 13, is now on the fence, with just two days to go before the bill has to be signed or die:
“Well, I haven’t made up my mind.” Richardson said. “… I want to look at constitutional issues, fairness issues. I want to attract the best workforce.”
Public employees union official urges action
A top public employees union official in the state – AFSCME Council 18′s political and legislative director Carter Bundy — said the law has been so abused that the governor should sign the bill.
“Its been badly abused in Albuquerque, and in the state,” Bundy said. “For employers, it’s a great way to reward your friends, and if you’re a public employee, you’d be crazy to not take it. But the fact is that it jeopardizes the state retirement fund, along with other problems.”
The current law, according to Bundy, was passed in 2004 as a way to deal with a shortage of public safety and municipal water employees, especially in rural areas. But, he said, it opened a pandora’s box.
“What we’ve created is a massive incentive for anyone who might have stayed on the job for 30 years or more to now retire at the earliest possible moment,” Bundy said.
“The cumulative effect [of the increase in earlier retirees] imperils the state retirement fund, PERA,” Bundy continued, “because these pensions are being paid out a lot sooner than they might have been had the employees not had this incentive.”
Plus, he said, it damages workplace morale because it inhibits upward mobility on the job, and it has the potential to damage institutional knowledge.
“It gives people an incentive to not share knowledge with their co-workers or mentor younger employees, allowing an impression to be built that they are indispensable,” Bundy explained.
The bill passed this year by Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, modifies the existing law in several ways. HB 616 requires employees to wait 12 months instead of 90 days before they are eligible to be rehired and caps the salary returning retirees can earn at $30,000. Plus, it requires retirees to be 65 years old or have “maxed out” under their pension plan.
The bill allows exemptions for certain lengths of time to these rules for populations under 50,000 or for political bodies that pass “critical need” resolutions.
Varela told Channel 13 the governor should sign the bill and let the courts decide if it passes muster, rather than “throw the baby away with the bathwater.”
