Suffolk County's Ed Romaine, other elected officials collect pensions plus salaries

As a New York State retiree, Ed Romaine collects a $116,000 pension each year. As Suffolk County executive, he gets an annual salary of $241,000.

Romaine, a Republican who took office Monday, plans to keep both incomes, joining a handful of other Suffolk elected officials in a practice that is legal but that critics say violates the spirit of New York's retirement law. 

A New York State retiree since Jan. 1, 2006, Romaine has a $9,734.68 gross monthly pension, according to the state Comptroller’s Office. His years of government employment include serving as a Suffolk County clerk and legislator and previously working as a public high school teacher.

Romaine said he will also accept the county executive's full budgeted salary unlike his predecessor, Steve Bellone, a Democrat who took at least $10,000 less than what was allowed each year under county law.

“Money isn't a reason I ran for this job — that’s secondary,” said Romaine, who turned 77 last month. “Believe it or not, particularly in my stage of life, I’m too old to spend some of that.”

As for continuing to collect a pension, he said, “I’m retired and I get a pension and it's automatic.”

At least four other elected county officials who have had lengthy careers in government — Republican Comptroller John Kennedy and Legislators Robert Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), Tom Donnelly (D-Deer Park) and Steven Englebright (D-Setauket) — collect pensions on top of their six-figure salaries. 

Regulating 'double dippers'

Numerous nonelected government workers, such as police and teachers, have collected pensions and salaries, with restrictions. Under state law, retirees who take public service jobs are subject to income limits until they turn 65.

But retirees who are elected to public office are generally exempt from those regulations and may collect their salaries and pensions without limit, according to the state Comptroller’s Office.

Ken Girardin, research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank based in Albany, noted that most of Suffolk's so-called "double dippers" are retired law enforcement officers who work as investigators in the district attorney's office.

But those collecting a pension while in elected office are going against the intent of the pension system, which is to ensure retirees can financially support themselves, he said.

“There's no evidence that the people who crafted the state pension system imagined a scenario where someone would be collecting from it while also getting a full-time government salary for anything, let alone elected office,” he said.

Kennedy and other officials said the practice gives their families additional security. If the officials died in office without retiring, their surviving spouses would not be entitled to their full benefits and pensions, he said.

“It’s a macabre perspective, but it’s a realistic one,” Kennedy said, adding he was eligible to file 11 years earlier than he did.

How it works

Kennedy, who began working for state and county government at the age of 19, won a third four-year term in November 2022 and entered the retirement system the next month at age 66. It allowed him to begin collecting an approximately $161,000 annual pension on Jan. 1, 2023, according to the state Comptroller’s Office. The pension is in addition to the approximately $215,000 salary he earned as comptroller last year, according to county payroll records.

Trotta, a retired Suffolk County police detective who took office in 2014, collects a pension of about $94,000 annually. He says he could have made more if he had stayed on the police force instead of entering politics.

“I'm the stupidest double dipper in the history of double dipping,” he said. “If I would have stayed as a policeman, I'd be making over $100,000 a year more and my pension would be about $80,000 more.”

Englebright, a former longtime state assemblyman who filed for retirement in 2012, collects a pension of about $63,000, according to the state Comptroller's Office. Englebright lost his seat in 2022 and was elected to the county legislature a year later. He declined to comment on his incomes.

Donnelly, an FDNY member who retired in 2017 and was first elected to the county legislature that year, collects a pension of about $178,000, according to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center's public database. He did not return a call seeking comment, and the city Comptroller's Office did not immediately return a request to verify the amount.

Suffolk legislators receive a $111,000 annual salary under the 2024 county budget.

Assemb. Michael J. Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) has advocated for state pension reform, including requiring elected officials to opt into defined contribution plans similar to 401ks rather than pensions. Fitzpatrick argues the pension system is so generous that it makes the prospect of losing an election — and thus additional years vested in the system — financially perilous for career politicians. That gives added leverage to labor unions who largely want to maintain their benefits, he said.

“We are wasting our time thinking about how we are going to make Long Island and New York State more affordable without getting electeds out of the defined benefit pension system,” he said.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.