Escambia County Tax Collector Janet Holley retired this month. There wasn’t any big announcement, no appointment by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace her. She didn’t tell anyone earlier in the year of her intentions so that someone might run for his office.
Holley retired to take advantage of a loophole in the Florida Retirement System. She will begin receiving an annual pension of $81,600. Plus, she can keep her tax collector salary of about $132,000. She just elected to another four-year term.
We reported last April that other elected officials have been doing the same thing (Local Double Dippers). These figures are from a St. Pete Times investigative report done by Lucy Morgan:
Johnson, Mary M.
Agency Name: Santa Rosa Co Clerk Of Circuit Court
* Salary in 06-07: $117,349.22
* Monthly retirement payment: $6,515.53
* “Retired” in: 4/1/2001
* Total retirement benefit collected: $403,470.24
Magaha, Ernie L.
Agency Name: Escambia Co Clerk Of Circuit Court
* Salary in 06-07: $132,810.68
* Monthly retirement payment: $9,522.37
* “Retired” in: 6/1/2001
* Total retirement benefit collected: $397,593.95
McNesby, Harry R.
Agency Name: Escambia Co Sheriff’s Dept
* Salary in 06-07: $140,708.07
* Monthly retirement payment: $3,975.89
* “Retired” in: 7/1/1998
* Total retirement benefit collected: $73,669.93
This madness has to stop. We can’t pay pensions and salaries for the same people.
Popularity: 4% [?]
While the public servants break the budgets back I am paying three times the tax & don’t live in Escambia county.Government doesnt serve the people..it sucks them dry.
They need to publish a new salary list. I wonder how many folks have increased.
Lets not forget Holley was re-elected (by default), she is obligated to fulfill her duties as Tax Collector until 2012. Otherwise she should not have run for office.
You’re right T-Gill the law does not prohibit it, that’s the problem. Some states ( many I’m told) do have laws that do prohibit being re employed by the state or local govt. once you start receiving a retirement from that government. I have no problem with an employee continuing to work after retirmement elegiblity but only if the employee delays receiving retirement benefits. Face reality how many 65 yr old cops do you know who can compete physically with 25 yr old criminals. A school teacher is another whole issue. They can continue doing the same kind of work after normaal retirement age, cops cant.
Why can’t you pay salaries and pensions to the same people? Someone else would have to be hired to the position these people are vacating. So you’d be paying retirement and a salary anyway.
How many here could honestly say they would not take advantage of the same, legal program if available to them?
If you’re unhappy with the existing laws that allow this, write your legislator.
DROP … this is the process that the State set up for its employees. So long as this is available then what is the problem with following their guidelines. Where does it say that once you retire from the state system that you can never work again for the state?
[...] Rick Outzen: “Holley retires, comes back in Jan.” [...]
Hey, Richard Barker Jr. goes by the name ****, this is what name he uses for himself. It was not put in the reply negatively!!!
You also missed the many who retired under the DROP program and then were re-hired, via a contract to perform the identical services they did before they retirede. The Sheriff’s office has several who were favored by McNesby and who he re-hired via this loophole. Other agencies also have more double dipping.
You missed one, try Judge Frank Bell. Bell retired, did the drop, and is still working. Do the math on that one!
Don’t disparage Janet Holley for taking advantage of something that is legal. If you don’t agree with the state legislation that established the loophole, then address your complaints to your state representatives. They are the ones that can fix the Florida Retirement System (FRS). From the looks of things, this loophole has existed for quite some time. Somebody in Tallahassee has clearly been asleep at the switch….or have they?
Rick, Al Coby’s 5 year DROP ends Jan, 5 or 6 2009 and Rusty’s end in Aug. 2009. When he entered the DROP he signed a contract that he would stay for up to 5 years and then leave “Mandatory”. In the original DROP plan passed by the city council this was the case for all city employees. Some time in 2007 city staff,”Al, Rusty, Robert, ****, etc. You see the pattern, upper management, decided that they may need to be extended after their DROP because they are “sooooo” important to the city. Staff changed the DROP for themselves only. Now the city manager may let the contract employees “ONLY”, in the general pesion plan, continue to work after their 5 years. It is also that these same people that are in their DROP were allowed to join the FRS. O’ by the way it takes “6″ years to become vested in the FRS. This will allow these people to draw another pension when they leave. They may be able to DROP again from the FRS. “Hears looking out for the tax payers of the city”.
The problem is that they aren’t retired. They are doing to exact same job in the exact same position as they were before they “retired”.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary the definition of retire is “to withdraw from one’s occupation, business, or office; stop working.”
“Retiring” for 30 days and then coming back to the same exact job is NOT retiring.
There may be a loophole in the law that allows this, but just because something is legal doesn’t make it moral or ethical. There is a difference between right and wrong and taking advantage of this loophole, especially in this economic disaster speaks volumes about her character.
Retiring from the military and then getting a different job as a civilian is no comparision to this. I have no problem with with someone who wants to continue to be a productive member of society, but I have a huge problem with the legislators who created this loophole that will bankrupt the state in a matter of years.
If they’ve earned their pensions & then return to the workforce, what’s the problem? How many retired military members get civil service jobs with the military & return to the workforce as civilians?