ALBANY — Instead of a gold watch, more and more teachers are getting gold-plated pensions when they retire.

The number of retirees earning six-figure pensions from the city and state teacher retirement systems nearly tripled during the past five years, according to a report from the Empire Center for Public Policy released Thursday.

“The costs keep going up and up,” said the Empire Center’s E.J. McMahon, adding that the rise in six-figure pensions reflects the growth in teachers’ salaries over the years.

Topping New York’s pension list is Queens College history Prof. Edgar McManus, 90, who retired in 2012 after a 55-year career in education and now receives a whopping $561,286-a-year pension. “I was there a long time — it adds up,” McManus, who lives in Manhattan, said Thursday.

Pensions are based on a percentage of teachers’ salaries that gets higher the more years they’ve served. Workers like McManus who take their pensions at an advanced age also get more.

McManus, whose final salary at Queens College was $116,364, boosted his pension by contributing additional money into the system while he worked. He also received credit for time in the military before teaching, giving him more than 60 years of service. “I simply worked in the system for many years and I contributed the maximum amount that was allowed,” McManus said.

McManus is one of 4,481 members of the New York City Teachers’ Retirement System and the New York State Teachers Retirement System who earned pensions over $100,000 in 2014. The number was a stark increase from the 1,663 who earned a six-figure pension in 2009, according to the Empire Center.

Teachers union officials defended their retirees, saying that the average teacher pension is a modest $44,978.

© 2015 New York Daily News

You may also like

Pandemic, recession don’t bring down school budgets

Stephen T. Watson This year's school elections were delayed and then shifted entirely to voting by mail thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, which also shut down schools here and across the country. District officials worried this new method of Read More

EDITORIAL: CAN WE AFFORD SIX -FIGURE PENSION AS THE NORM?

Six-figure pensions are becoming the norm among retirees from New York’s largest downstate suburban police departments, according to data posted at SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Read More

It’s never simple arithmetic with schools

Earlier this week, the Empire Center did its own report on the plummeting numbers when it comes to students. Overall, the 2019-20 enrollment is at its lowest levels in New York state in the last 30 years. Read More

EDITORIAL: State schools continue spending more for less

As reported by the Empire Center last week, “The number of students enrolled in New York state public schools is the lowest recorded in 30 years.” Since 2000, enrollment in public schools has declined by more than 10 percent statewide with most of it upstate as enrollment in New York City schools has increased 1.3 percent in the last 10 years. Students are not leaving to go to private or parochial schools either because they, too, are showing declines, down about 8 percent in the last decade. Read More

Comptroller warns of financial distress at the MTA, and the MTA goes on a hiring spree

According to Ken Girardin, a labor analyst at the right-leaning Empire Center for Public Policy, every new police officer will cost the MTA roughly $56,000, which means the new personnel would initially cost the MTA roughly $28 million a year. Those costs should rapidly increase over time, as police salaries rapidly increase. Read More

TOP SALARIES IN WESTCHESTER FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

One of the great government watchdogs in New York State is the Empire Center for Public Policy, led by EJ McMahon. The Empire Center recently came out with its annual report on overtime costs and the highest earning public servants in NYS. Read More

Genesee Community College president tops pay list in Finger Lakes

ALBANY — Genesee Community College President Dr. James Sunser was the highest-paid municipal government worker in the Finger Lakes region, according to the latest edition of “What They Make,” the Empire Center’s annual report summarizing total local government pay. Read More

Soon it will be the 1950s again as enrollment continues to drop in New York schools

Mount Morris had the highest increase among any district outside of New York City, according to a report released Tuesday by The Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany. Read More