The City of Pensacola Sunshine Center released after hours on Tuesday the Individual DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Plan) Account statements for 20 firefighters in the program. Those 20 firefighters account nearly one out of every five positions in the PFD, 17.4 percent, including the new Fire Chief, David Allen, and new Assistant Fire Chief, Greg Redding.
DROP allows older employees to remain at their jobs but have their retirement benefits accumulate with interest up to five years. In theory, the program encourages retirement of highly paid, senior employees to make room for advances among younger, lower-paid employees. When an employees enter DROP, additional retirement benefits stop accruing, which saves money for the public agency that employs them.
The total monthly payments to the DROP accounts for these workers is $87,293.72, annually $1,047,524. The Individual DROP Account Statements do not list the end dates for each employee.
Here are the statements: Fire_Statements_Redacted
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