Public Employee's "Modest" Paychecks

We’ve posted before about the retirement and benefit packages publice employees receive that far exceed those offered to employees in the private sector. As we noted earlier, if our representatives in Trenton don’t bring these benefits in line with the private sector the state will be in fiscal crisis every year

New Jersey State Senator, Nicholas Asselta said,” those who make their careers as teachers, police officers or public employees often consciously decide to accept modest public paychecks in return for the job security and retirement benefits government offers. They made a deal when they got into public service for us; now they're being blamed. “

Here’s an example of a public employee’s modest paycheck that will be used to calculate one guy’s pension. State pensions are calculated based upon the employee’s last year of pay and so many of our public servants collude with their supervisors to rack up as much overtime as possible.

One officer who made about $226,000 in base and overtime pay actually took home nearly $287,000, according to pension records.

Overtime pay has been a big issue for the Port Authority, which is funded largely by Hudson River bridge and tunnel tolls and user fees at its four airports in New York and New Jersey. In 2000, the Port Authority's 1,300 officers logged nearly 400,000 hours of overtime, costing the authority more than $20 million.

After the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade center in 2001, killing 37 Port Authority officers, overtime costs soared to $86 million in 2002, as officers were forced to work 72-hour weeks in order to maintain heightened security at bridges, tunnels, airports and the trade center site.

Overtime numbers declined in following years as work schedules returned to normal for most officers. But last year, officers logged 653,370 overtime hours, costing the Port Authority more than $30 million.