NJ Watchdog: $100K Pension Club

For immediate release:

 $100K NEW JERSEY PENSIONS 'CLUB' STATE RETIREMENT FUNDS

Call it the $100K Club – an elite corps of retired public employees that's growing bigger, younger and richer at the expense of the New Jersey retirement system.

The number of retirees collecting more than $100,000 a year from state pensions jumped to 1,244 last year – up 28 percent from 2010, according to New Jersey Watchdog's analysis of state data.  For example:·

• New Brunswick Police Director Anthony Caputo, for example, retired at age 47 to draw a $115,019 annual pension. One year later, the city rehired Caputo as police director – the same position – at a $120,000 salary. For one job, he receives two checks, totaling $235,019 a year.
• Robert Mulcahy hit the jackpot when he was fired as Rutgers University's $341,250-a-year athletic director. He received a severance package that cost the state school more than $600,000.  The next month, Mulcahy started collecting a $162,399 annual pension.·      
•  Joseph Blaettler will rake in more than $4.5 million from the Police and Firemen's Retirement Fund if he reaches age 80, his statistical life expectancy. At age 46, Blaettler began pocketing nearly $135,000 a year in retirement checks when he stepped down as Union City deputy police chief.

For the complete story, go to http://newjersey.watchdog.org/.

NOTE – New Jersey Watchdog will release the full list of 1,244 $100K Club members on its web site tomorrow, April 3.