Albany

Teens who spend their summer working for the village of Green Island can expect some spending cash, maybe a tan, and the beginnings of a state pension.

Even if it takes an act of the Legislature.

Three bills approved by state lawmakers last month would let nine people who worked for the village — half of them in their 20s — upgrade to a more generous pension tier after what village officials say was a series of administrative errors.

There are teenagers in this world, if you can believe it, who do not grasp the lifelong financial implications of an early application to the state retirement system. But some do, and they are entitled to begin accruing time toward a state-administered pension like any other municipal employee. As state budgets have grown tighter, pensions for newly hired public employees have been scaled back: Tier IV was enacted in 1983, but Tier V took effect at the start of 2010 and Tier VI became law on April 1, 2012.

“It’s unfortunate that the error was made, but it’s very important that we correct it,” said Green Island Mayor Ellen McNulty-Ryan. “It wasn’t their fault, and they shouldn’t lose out because they made an error.”

She said a former village employee did not process applications in a timely manner; the text of the bills says the applications were not acted on for up to five years from the date the village says they were initially filed. The relevant employees were identified in a subsequent audit.

McNulty-Ryan, as well as Assemblyman John McDonald, a Cohoes Democrat who shepherded the bill through the Assembly, insist that its passage has nothing to do with the fact that five of the employees are related to more senior employees of the warren of government entities that operate within the 2,600-person enclave.

The bills affect the son and daughter of Sean Ward, who works as McNulty-Ryan’s executive assistant, administers the water and sewer departments and serves as CEO of the Green Island Industrial Development Authority. They also cover the mother of Maggie Alix, the assessor for both the co-terminus town and village of Green Island as well as the director of the villageParks & Recreation department. And there are the daughters of Village Clerk Anne Strizzi, who also works as the recording secretary for Green Island’s IDA and power authority.

“My understanding is that the person in charge of the financial aspect did not do their job,” McDonald said. “Whether you’re a relative of an elected or appointed official or not, if the local government requests it and is willing to pay the freight, that’s their decision to make.”

Actuaries estimate the bills will increase Green Island taxpayers’ required pension contributions by several thousand dollars a year, and also require a one-time retroactive payment of $3,430. That makes the $160 billion state pension fund whole, but it’s “another straw on the back of taxpayers,” said E.J. McMahon, a fellow at the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

“It’s worth a lot to move up (the pension tiers) — not so much for the benefits, but because of the contributions you pay out of pocket,” he said. “So it’s especially valuable for these people to do this now, early in their career. And like everything else in the pension system, it has been endlessly gamed.”

Such bills are fairly common, spring from all corners of the state and usually pass without controversy. According to a spokesman for Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who oversees the state pension fund, 18 bills for municipal employees passed both houses of the Legislature this year — excluding pension systems for New York City employees and teachers. Gov. Andrew Cuomohas until the end of the year to act on them, but in the past two years has signed 22 similar bills.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi was noncommittal when asked about the Green Island bills.

“Those are among the 480 bills that passed the Legislature, have yet to be delivered to the governor and are in the process of being vetted,” he said.

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