State: Retirement amendment adds up for politicians

Retirement amendment adds up for politicians

By LUCY MORGAN

TALLAHASSEE -- Some of Florida's more highly paid local politicians would receive a huge benefit under an obscure amendment added to an important retirement bill in the closing hours of this year's legislative session.

The amendment, tacked on to a bill sponsored by state Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, will allow some veteran sheriffs, public defenders, county commissioners and other local officials to collect retirement pay and seek re-election to their six-figure-salary jobs.

For example, Broward County Public Defender Alan Schreiber would be able to collect a one-time payment of almost $600,000, his retirement pay of $100,000 a year and also seek re-election and collect his $130,000-a-year state salary.

"I did not know what the amendment did," Fasano said Monday. "I'll personally revisit it. That is wrong, very wrong."

No one seems certain how many officials will benefit from the change in the law, but state retirement officials estimate that about 200 elected officials are in the deferred retirement system that was affected by the amendment.

The change affects a program designed to encourage highly paid employees to retire. In exchange for potentially enhanced benefits, they would have to agree to a retirement date -- or to not seek re-election.

But the change in the law would allow some elected officials to seek re-election and collect a salary in addition to retirement benefits.

State Rep. Gaston Cantens, R-Miami, offered the amendment on May 4, the last day of this year's session. At the time, the bill designed to restore pension benefits to police and firefighters was caught in a dramatic battle between the House and Senate.

On the same day, Fasano offered language dealing with the way the state invests retirement dollars and a controversial provision designed to make it harder for Tom Herndon, director of the state Board of Administration, to keep his job.

Agreement on the bill was reached in the closing hour of the session after frantic negotiations between legislative leaders.

Fasano said Cantens asked him to allow the amendment after telling him that it was designed to help state Rep. Stan Jordan, R-Jacksonville, with a retirement problem. Cantens told him it would affect only one person, Fasano said.

"I thought it had something to do with retirement benefits he was already getting," Fasano said. "I have always been opposed to double dipping."

Cantens, one of several House members vying to become speaker in 2004, said he was trying to help public officials elected to serve in part-time jobs retain their state retirement benefits. He said Jordan, a longtime school official in Duval County, was only one of several officials who would benefit.

Jordan, a former teacher, principal and School Board member, did not return a telephone call.

"I have heard there are some unintended consequences," Cantens said Monday. "We may need to narrow the scope of the language."

Gov. Jeb Bush was also surprised by news of the amendment.

"We were not aware of that provision," said Bush communications director Katie Baur. "That bill had a lot more good than bad. Unfortunately, it is an imperfect process."

Fasano immediately sent a letter to Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, and urged him to have the House committee he leads draft a bill to restore the old law.

"The Legislature should not be passing bills that financially benefit specific individuals," Fasano noted. "And elected officials should not receive special treatment."

The bill was heavily supported by law enforcement officials who wanted the law changed to restore a pension benefit for police and firefighters who lost money several years ago during a budget crisis.

Part of the bill, though, changed the state's deferred retirement program. Legislators approved the deferred retirement program in 1998 in an effort to encourage retirement in the ranks of highly paid senior employees to make room for advances among younger and lower-paid employees.

An employee who signed up for the program agreed to an alternative method of getting retirement benefits and established a specific date for retirement. Under the old law, an official would have to resign his office and remain out of it for at least 30 days before returning to work for the state.

Those in the program get the balance in an account that includes 3 percent of their salary for every year of state employment or 3.3 percent for judges. The accounts earn interest at a rate of 6.5 percent per year.

For long-time, highly paid employees, the nest egg available when they depart can total hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Monroe County Sheriff Richard D. Roth said he has written letters seeking help from Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, sponsor of the retirement bill in the Senate.

Roth said he was merely looking for a way to retain his assets in the deferred retirement program without having to retire in midterm. He has 36 years in the state retirement system and would be entitled to about $400,000 but was afraid he would have to resign in midterm or lose benefits.

Roth said he heard Burt was interested in helping law enforcement officials and judges in the program. Burt is running for state attorney general and has been cultivating support from law enforcement officials. Burt did not return telephone calls Monday.

Fasano said he did not discuss the provision with Burt when the amendment was added but was certain someone in the Senate accepted the amendment because it was added to the bill before a final vote.

Schreiber, the Broward public defender, said he heard about the change in the law after the Legislature adjourned and has not decided whether to take advantage of it.

Schreiber has been in office 24 years.

-- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.