Post by Logan on Feb 7, 2016 4:17:53 GMT -6
ALBANY - Few concepts in Albany have more widespread support: Stripping public officials of their retirement benefits if they’re convicted of a crime related to their work.
Taxpayers are on the hook for more than $682,000 a year in payments to 16 former state lawmakers who have been convicted of a felony and have since filed for their retirement, according to a Gannett Albany Bureau review of data from the state Comptroller’s Office.
The state’s constitution protects public pension benefits for state and local-government employees or officials — even if they’re guilty of corruption.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called it “perverse.” Both the state Senate and Assembly have approved measures that would allow for pension stripping, albeit in different forms. And 84 percent of New York voters say it should happen, according to a Siena College poll last week.
Read more: www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/2016/02/05/squabble-threatens-pension-stripping-plan/79947392/
Taxpayers are on the hook for more than $682,000 a year in payments to 16 former state lawmakers who have been convicted of a felony and have since filed for their retirement, according to a Gannett Albany Bureau review of data from the state Comptroller’s Office.
The state’s constitution protects public pension benefits for state and local-government employees or officials — even if they’re guilty of corruption.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called it “perverse.” Both the state Senate and Assembly have approved measures that would allow for pension stripping, albeit in different forms. And 84 percent of New York voters say it should happen, according to a Siena College poll last week.
Read more: www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/2016/02/05/squabble-threatens-pension-stripping-plan/79947392/