Two New York Police Department retirees each collected total retirement benefits of more than $600,000 last year—a new record high for the NYPD, according to data posted on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
However, unlike the pension systems covering all other public employees in New York State, the New York City Police Pension Fund refuses to identify its top two pensioners, or any of its 53,215 NYPD retirees receiving benefit payments that totaled $3.3 billion last year.
The Police Pension Fund’s largest payment last year totaled $607,733 for an individual who retired in August 2020 with about 37 years of service. Records show he or she had collected $179,510 from the Fund the year before.
The amounts listed on SeeThroughNY include the service or disability pensions received by officers (based on factors including their pay and length of service) and supplemental benefits (based on voluntary extra contributions made to the Fund, on which officers earn a guaranteed rate of return).
All eight of the largest payments (which each exceeded $382,000) went to officers who retired since 2020.
Two hundred sixty-four (264) retirees collected $200,000 or more, including 24 who received at least $300,000.
“Defined-benefit pensions are increasingly rare in the private sector, and even by public-sector standards, New York’s public pensions are extremely generous,” said research director Ken Girardin. “Taxpayers guarantee these pensions and they deserve to see how they’re calculated and who’s collecting them.”
Over the past 15 years, the Empire Center has sued repeatedly to protect New York taxpayers’ right to view public pension and payroll records. In 2014, following four years of litigation, the Empire Center scored a major win as the state Court of Appeals held that the public had a right to see the names of retirees and how much they collected from the state’s teacher pension systems. Later rulings protected the public’s right to timely access to records ranging from New York City firefighter pensions to the MTA’s payroll.
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.
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