'Double dippers' pad paychecks with pensions in Suffolk County government

At least 10 appointed members of Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine’s administration are collecting state pensions on top of six-figure salaries, a permitted practice known as "double dipping" but one critics say violates the intent of the state retirement system. 

Romaine, a Republican who took office in January, has emphasized hiring department heads with decades of experience to improve the services those agencies provide as well as their reputations. Some county departments have endured criticisms, including Information Technology, following a crippling cybersecurity attack in 2022, and Social Services, for its handling of the Thomas Valva child abuse case in 2020.

Many of the new county leaders are past retirement age and thus collecting pension payments on top of their county salary. The appointees are earning a combined $1.7 million in base pay, with Department of Public Works Commissioner Charles Bartha ranked as the highest paid with an annual county salary of $200,004.30 and a pension of $107,365.32 for a total $307,369.62, according to county payroll records and the state Comptroller's Office.

Bartha previously worked for DPW for more than three decades, including as a commissioner before entering the private sector in 2006.

“It was critical to attract and retain professionals with years of experience to make Suffolk County a safer and more affordable place to live," Romaine spokesman Mike Martino said in a statement.

The other employees are Department of Social Services Commissioner John Imhof; IT Commissioner John McCaffrey; Deputy DPW Commissioner Leslie Mitchel; Department of Labor Commissioner Wayne Rogers; Probation Director Gerard Cook; Deputy Police Commissioner Belinda Groneman; Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina; Assistant to the Commissioner of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Thomas Coffey; and Deputy Public Administrator Thomas Luciano. No one responded to a request for comment.

Double dipping is legal, and it's also done in other states.

The state retirement system, which is funded by employee contributions and investments, is costly for local governments. Municipal employees are eligible for pensions upon retirement, an option that is rare for nongovernment workers. Only 15% of private-sector workers can receive a "defined benefit plan" like public employees in the New York State and Local Retirement System, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The majority are offered 401(k)-style "defined contribution plans."

Good government groups note that pension payments also can function as extra government-funded income to someone who chooses to work past retirement, which was not the intent of the program.

Ken Girardin, research director of the Albany think tank Empire Center for Public Policy, said pension plans were designed to provide income for someone who is no longer working.

“We're stuck having this awkward conversation because New York public employees are placed in defined-benefit pension plans, unlike their private-sector counterparts,” he said. “If these appointees were drawing from their 401(k)s, it wouldn't matter to anyone. However, they're taking payments they were meant to receive when they were no longer working.”

Suffolk County budgeted $213.2 million in retirement payments for employees in 2024, but the state projects taxpayers will contribute 18% more to that fund in 2025, according to the Suffolk County Legislature’s Office of Budget Review.

More than 39,000 retired workers in Suffolk County were receiving a combined $1.5 billion in annual pension payments as of March 2023 — the most of any county in the state — according to a September report from the state Comptroller’s Office. Long Island public employees also make more on average than in any other region in the state, according to a February report from the Empire Center think tank.

Under state law, retirees who take public service jobs are subject to income limits until they turn 65. McCaffrey, Watson, Coffey and Catalina are all under age 65 and have obtained a state waiver to collect their pensions and a salary greater than $35,000, according to the state Civil Service Department. Luciano, who is 57, has applied for a waiver, according to Martino.

Thousands of workers across the state — from lawmakers to police officers to judges — have collected pensions in addition to their public paychecks despite those restrictions. Other efforts to limit double dipping have failed, including a bill introduced in the state Assembly seeking to bar elected officials from collecting pensions on top of their salary.

In addition to the appointees, Newsday has reported at least five elected county officials who have had lengthy careers in government collect pensions on top of their six-figure salaries. They are Romaine, Republican Comptroller John Kennedy, and Legislators Robert Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), Tom Donnelly (D-Deer Park) and Steven Englebright (D-Setauket).

Other administrations have sought waivers to put retired officials on the payroll, including former Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who obtained them for budget expert Fred Pollert and former Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison.

Paul Sabatino, a former counsel to the Suffolk County Legislature, said while those over 65 are entitled to receive a salary and a pension, some people might take issue with circumventing state law and seeking a waiver for younger retirees. A municipality must demonstrate the applicant is the only candidate for the job to receive a waiver, although he questioned if that is always the case.

“You really have to show that you've got the cure for polio or for world hunger because you have to show that nobody else is available who could possibly do the job,” he said. “But waivers have been granted over the years, virtually without exception.”

Former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said hiring retirees brings benefits for the county, including eliminating the need to contribute to retirement and health care costs for those employees. Staffers who have decades of municipal experience also can bring special expertise, he said.

“You can't blame the person taking what is offered: You have to blame the system, and the elected officials who created it,” Levy said. “But it often has an ugly look to an average worker taking home fifty grand.”

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She 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.