Local Double-Dippers

Filtering data on participants in the New Jersey retirement for only those linked to Union County (including municipalities and authorities) yields 39,350 entries with total annual salaries of $1,353,357,535 and pensions of $612,010,813. Of those, 178 participants are double-dippers with annual salaries of $7,816,950 and pensions of $6,281,373 who fall into four categories (with examples):

$1 Billion to NJ Double-Dippers

New Jersey has updated their listing of retirees in  the state pension system. As of June, 2017 there were 328,932 retirees getting annualized benefits of $10,562,840,926. There is also a listing of participants in the pension system as of March 31, 2017 who are still working and not yet receiving benefits. Adding those 400,257 participants making annualized salaries of $24,788,234,410 into a spreadsheet with the retirees and sorting through the data we found several entries that had the same last name, first name, and year of birth. Some worked two or more jobs, a few got two pensions, and many had both a pension and a salary. Total annual take: $586,475,721 in salaries and $407,554,553 in pensions.

Here is a spreadsheet of those participants sorted alphabetically for your review. Since there were no assigned participant numbers there may have been different people who happened to have the same name and year of birth (especially among the Smiths) so keep that in mind when searching through the spreadsheets.* After some more sorting these retirees topped the list:

NCPERS Progagandizing

Spewing faulty research commissioned by misguided public unions the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) has taken to playing the Frank Drebin role:
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And according their latest ‘research’ brief, they are being insulting about it now:

Pension funds are resilient and well managed. They have stood the test of time for more than 100 years through economic ups and downs. If state and local legislators had kept their side of the bargain over the years by making scheduled payments on time, most critics of public pensions would have to find another hobby. (page 2)

It is that ‘if’ that disturbs us hobbyists.

Media Watching Itself

I just came across a One on One with Steve Adubato program recorded last March where Andrew George of NJBIZ makes three valid points (two overtly):

Is Covering Fake News Real News?

A quick diversion.

It seems we have always had unanswerable questions to divert us like:

• What came first, the chicken or the egg?
• If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it still make a sound?
• If you say something and your wife isn’t there are you still wrong?*

To which we now add:

Breaking News: NYS Teamsters Conference Pension Fund Gets MPRA Letter

On August 30, 2016 trustees of the New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund out of Syracuse, NY became the ninth multiemployer (union) plan to file for benefit cuts under MPRA in an attempt to avoid insolvency. On April 5, 2017 they withdrew that application and on May 15, 2017 they refiled. Yesterday they got their letter:

2025 Insolvency for PBGC Multiemployer Program

Today the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) released its FY 2016 Projections Report, an annual actuarial evaluation forecasting the future financial condition of PBGC’s Single-Employer and Multiemployer Programs noting, among other things, that:

The risk of insolvency accumulates year by year, leaving the multiemployer program fund more likely than not to use up all of its assets by the end of fiscal year (FY) 2025. While the program covers only roughly one-quarter of private sector defined benefit pension participants, it continues to have deficits (i.e., negative net positions) much larger than those of the single-employer program. Those deficits are expected to grow, in nominal dollars, over time. (page 1)

Here are the other things  of note: