TU: DROP a good deal for city employees, but adds to Jacksonville's pension woes

[Patricia M. McBride]

How does the city get into things like this, and how does someone amass such a huge amount to add to an already over generous retirement while they are already accepting a largish paycheck (this whole mess is bankrupting the city).   Most folks that amass for their retirement during their working life are saving their own money and not adding more tax dollars to their accounts.  What to do? 

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The way it's set up, the program's lump sum payments will create difficulties  for the city later, critics say.

Posted: April 3, 2012 -  9:05pm  |  Updated: April 4, 2012 -  9:17am

Infographic

More than 400 public safety employees are enrolled in the city's deferred  retirement option, commonly known as DROP. The DROP program allows participants  to accumulate pension payments during their last five years of employment and  get a guaranteed 8.4 percent return on the money when they retire. (there is a search feature to find out who can get this and how much on the left side of the article)

 

By           Timothy J.  Gibbonsjacksonville.com            Copyright 2012 The Florida Times-Union. All  rights res...

April  3, 2012 - 09:05pm

DROP a good deal for city  employees, but adds to Jacksonville's pension woes

When Richard Lundyretired from the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue  Department last month, he left with a $5,970-a-month pension he built up over 29  years of service.

Those payments were bolstered with a $478,229 lump sum he got the day he  left.

That money comes from about $380,000 in pension payments that accrued for the  fire suppression captain over the last five years while he was enrolled in the  city's Deferred Retirement Option Program. It also includes about $90,000 those  pension payments earned at a guaranteed 8.4 percent annually over that  period.

At the same time, Lundy continued drawing a salary, most recently around  $90,000.
Read more at Jacksonville.com:  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-03/story/drop-good-deal-...