The Daily News reports that State Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) is sponsoring Senate Bill 1182 “to end what I consider to be the abuse of the DROP system.” The bill would prohibit “a retired person from receiving both a salary from an employer in the state-administered retirement system and retirement benefits, and from re-enrolling in the State Retirement System.”
Gaetz estimates closing the DROP loophole would save taxpayers approximately $100 million.
The article uses Bob Richburg, president of Northwest Florida State College, as an example.
Richburg retired as president of the college in 2007 and received a lump sum of $553,000 for his 30-plus years of service to the state.
He turned around 30 days later and got rehired at a new base salary of $221,450 – a 3 percent raise over the approximately $215,000 he’d been making before retiring.
And a year after being rehired, Richburg started collecting $8,546 a month in additional retirement pay.
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