Many government retirees also get public paychecks <cite class="byline vcard">By DANNY ROBBINS, PETER JACKSON and TAMMY WEBBER - Associated Press | AP – <abbr title="2011-10-01T16:16:31Z">2 hrs 17 mins ago</abbr></cite> tweet20 Share3 Email Print Related Content ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, OCT. 2 AND THEREAFTER - In this Aug. 10, 2011, photo Texas … ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, OCT. 2 AND THEREAFTER - In this Sept. 26, 2011 photo, Maury … Business slideshows Teen Lexi Thompson to become LPGA member <cite>50 photos - Fri, Sep 30, 2011</cite> "Occupy Wall Street" protest <cite>50 photos - 3 mins 44 secs ago</cite> Venezuela train crash kills 1, injures dozens <cite>11 photos - Thu, Sep 29, 2011</cite> See latest photos » DALLAS (AP) — Double-dipping — the well-established practice of public workers collecting government pensions and salaries at the same time — has become a hot topic for lawmakers struggling with strained budgets. Even as some states have begun curbing the practice, a review by The Associated Press found tens of thousands of state and public school employees drawing government salaries along with their pensions. In five states alone — California, New York, Texas, Florida and Michigan — at least 66,000 government retirees also receive taxpayer-funded paychecks. One is engineer Maury Roos, who retired from the California Department of Water Resources with an annual pension of more than $113,000. He returned part-time within weeks. Roos says he uses the extra money to go to engineering conferences and the state gets an experienced engineer.
Not so much as welfare as retiring collecting their pensions that were earned over the years. And coming back to help part time or as a consultant. It;s like when the old engineer comes back into a plant that he worked for, comes in and smacks the machine with a hammer and it's running smoothly after that. Hands them a bill for 2500 bucks, 25.00 for the time and 2475.00 for knowing where to hit it. Where is the problem here? The states are not replacing their workers, Michigan for instance is letting 368 positions go unfilled after retirements in DOT,DNR and in Human sevices. Plus the currently vacant positions. So either the current workers work harder or they hire contractors. yes contractors may charge more but they don't get holiday pay, vacation, health care nor an additional pension. And they may be there for only weeks or months. So, which is cheaper? Welfare not in my mind. Just jumping at an opportunity while it's there.
The title is as misleading as they come. These people aren't collecting welfare or even "gaming" the system. They put in their 20,30, or more years and retired. That doesn't mean they are useless or that their old jobs aren't needed anymore. Sometimes they are needed as a consultant to help the new guy with bump in the road. I know of seveal military retirees who have gone to work for city and state goverments or factory jobs for an additional 20 years just because they like to work or they want to ensure they have a decent retirement when they call it quits or to pay for their kids college.
