Would you believe that officials in Massachusetts who have failed to win re-election have been able to claim a "termination allowance" that raises their pensions? Or that they could add another year of so-called "service" to their tally of time served even if they only worked one day that year?
It took hard times to get the Legislature moving on such abuses, but both the Senate and House have now voted unanimously for pension reform that will end the practices described above—and others, such as using car, travel and housing allowances to boost calculated "compensation" in a way that fattens state employees' pensions.
But both chambers stopped short of passing an amendment that would cap pensions at $96,000 a year, which is four times the pension collected by the average state employee ($24,000 a year), even though the number of state workers drawing pensions of $100,000 or more has more than tripled since 2003 (33 to 106), according to a recent study by the Boston Globe. Pulling over $200,000 a year, for instance, is former UMass President Billy Bulger, earlier president of the state Senate, who saw his salary rise from $189,000 to over $300,000 during his tenure as UMass' president and still capped it off by fighting the state in court to be able to count his housing allowance in figuring his pension. Those voting to cap pensions at $96,000 were Senate Republican Mike Knapik of Westfield, House Republican Don Humason, also of Westfield, and House Republican Todd Smola of Palmer.
