Average Annual Pension For Cops: $58,563

The fight between Mayor Bloomberg and the police and firefighter unions is getting nasty. Last week, it was revealed that Bloomberg was interested in eliminating a $12,000 bonus to current and future NYPD and FDNY retirees, leading heads of those unions to call him a liar. Steve Cassidy, head of the Uniformed Firefighters Associations, said, "As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Mike Bloomberg wants to say to firefighters and police officers who were there that day and didn't die, 'I'm going to steal money from your pocket.'"

Bloomberg has pointed out that the city doesn't have enough money to pay generous benefits, saying yesterday, "We have to make a decision: do we want to send out Christmas bonuses or have more teachers?" However, unions are arguing that these payments are simply byproducts of longstanding deals—in this case, the $12,000 variable supplement fund bonus was put into place by former Mayor Ed Koch, who Bloomberg tasked to head pension reform.

For what it's worth, the Manhattan Institute's Edmund J. McMahon tells the NY Times that the average annual pension for city cops who retired in 2009—not including the extra $12,000—was $58,563.

Only retired police officers and firefighters, not those on active duty, collect the payment; union officials estimated that about 50,000 retirees currently receive it. All but about 2 percent of current workers start accruing the benefit after 20 years of service, and the city must budget for them. Those who receive disability pensions are ineligible.

“I think one of the things you see here is the differing interpretations by workers and management over whose money it is,” Mr. McMahon said. “If you want to get the answer to it, well: Who has been dishing out $6 billion, or more, to all the pension funds to backfill the fund’s losses in the last few years? And the answer is, it’s the taxpayers.”

And if you look at the NYPD's recruiting website, it gives average pension payments after 22 years of service (meaning someone who joined the NYPD at 21 could retire at age 43) at various levels in the NYPD. "The Department of Health and Human Resources reports that the life expectancy of a person born prior to 1990 is approximately 76 years old. The estimated earnings scale below assumes a life expectancy of 76 years."

Oh, yeah, Bloomberg also wants the pension retirement age to start at 65.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 10, 2011 3:22 PM

Comments [rss]

tabboonyc

Let me also add that the $12.000 is taxed federal in NYS and if a retiree leaves NYS its subject to that regions, Local & State in addition to the federal so unless you move to a pension friendly state that 12k can be like 7 k very quickly.

inoyourider

Allowing the city to invest the pension money in much-riskier equities as opposed to much more stable bonds (as is the letter of the contract), is allowing the politicians to gamble with union members retirements. You pay for that concession. It was negotiated, and is a matter of record.
To quote the people of Bartertown:
"Bust a deal, face the wheel"

dennis hernandez

Pensions are not largesse from above, but rather they are deferred compensation due long serving employees. The bonus money that the NYPD & FDNY get are contractually negotiated. The bonus money is deferred deferred payment allowing the City to invest and profit from investing money that would have otherwise been paid out during the year. If the City had smarter fund managers then this would be a non issue.

Rod

i'm also wondering HOW anyone writes about this issue without pointing out everytime that JOEL KLEIN just got $34,000 a year for life in his pension after just 8 YEARS of being a public employee!

what happened to Bloomturd's "reforms"??

there are very few pieces you can find on the nazis or WW2 that omit the name "Hitler", so how do you omit the name "Klein" from pension articles when it alone proves Bloomturd is 100% lying?

the press just loves to keep deceiving us.

Steven Harris

Joel Klein did a public service, and managed a SCHOOL SYSTEM for our city. He only has a few more years to live. Put things into perspective.

Rod

ever heard of PRINCIPLE?

and you act like this guy was working hard!

was he mopping the schools? no. he was doing little work and dining with the billionaire.
is this your first time in America?

unretrofiedforu

Only a right wing turd would ever consider what Klein did a 'service' and his work 'management'. If anything he did us a service by giving up and letting another puppet dance.

Yahtzee

*I'd also like to see a study from the department of health on the average life-span of cops and fireman. I'm willing to bet the life-span of someone who gets shot at or runs into burning buildings with a hundred pounds of equipment strapped to him is alot less than your ordinary citizen.

But would you expect a Dept. under Bloomberg's rule to come out with facts and figures that actually pertain to the issue?

Also, what isn't said is how much that money will be worth in 33 years. 58k in 33 years will be worth nowhere near as much as it is worth today.

taracorinne

but how many of those cops work the streets til they retire? how many have cushy desk jobs for most of their careers? I don't know the percentage on this either but don't assume all cops are out in the line of fire on a daily basis.

ANGRYGOD11

Some studies conclude less than half of all NYPD ever fires their service pistol on-duty in their entire careers to protect and serve anyone, including themselves.

Rod

i'm no fan of cops, but they have one of the shittiest jobs on earth: they're getting fucked from all sides.

we should pay them a LOT more than we pay athletes and movie stars (and the mayor's $190,000 speechwriters!) but in return, we should only have cops who are VERY educated.

aprfctcrci

well from your post, i was able to draw one simple conclusion. you are in fact a complete idiot.

first of all, its less than 5% of cops who fire their weapons. secondly, that stat is ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS. in no way does that reflect the stresses a police officer experiences EVERYDAY. they deal with violent family disputes, violent emotionally disturbed people, violent criminals, criminals who run, criminals who fight, vehicle accidents, heinous crimes against people like rapes, child abuse, gruesome murders. they see things that would scar people for life on a daily basis. pretty much all the shit that you dont have to deal with hiding behind your computer screen in your safe studio apartment

Yahtzee

Thats fine, the use of average life-span for the pension calculation is still misleading and you really can't say it isn't. Police Officer and Fireman aren't what I consider "average" jobs. They are inherently more dangerous and cause long term health problems. Average life-span for people who do these jobs are less than those who will wear a suit and tie.

tom9d

This is stupid. I come from a cop family (dad and grandfather were NYPD), so I sympathize with them on most issues, but these pensions are out of control. And the $12k bonuses are absurd. New Yorkers are struggling to save for their own retirement funds -- we can't afford to foot the bill for the PD and FD's hefty pensions and bonuses anymore.

aprfctcrci

maybe you should ask your father and grandfather about the money their union GAVE the city. both of these unions GAVE the city MILLIONS OF DOLLARS from a supplemental fund that union members funded. as part of the agreement the city agreed to give all retirees a DEFINED BENEFIT, not a holiday bonus. the city then invested the money and made BILLIONS IN PROFITS. and what did the union members receive in return? a lousy 12,000 a year.

Yahtzee

All you need to do is ask your father about it...I'm sure he wouldn't mind explaining it to you....tell him your uninformed opinion while you're at it.

Yahtzee

Do you know a fucking thing about the 12k "bonus". It is from money the cops and firemen gave the city to invest. NYC has reaped over 4 billion dollars off of it.

tom9d

...and when the city loses money during years when the fund declines in value -- as it did over the past two years -- they still get their $12k, while the city has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year to cover the losses.

aprfctcrci

its the city that got us into this mess, now they look to the unions to get us out by forcing givebacks and layoffs down their throats, and when the unions bitch and moan, they attack the union members pockets and pensions.

when the stock market was through the roof, these pension funds had billions of dollars in surplus. instead of reinvesting this surplus or setting it aside for a tough time just like this, the city decided to withdraw it and use it to balance past budgets. THAT IS WHY WE ARE IN THIS SITUATION. its simple economics.

dennis hernandez

If you borrow money from a bank and invest it in the stock market and the investment tanks will the bank say oh, okay we'll take the hit along with you? The NYPD & FDNY lent the City the money from which these "bonus" payments come. Basically, the $12K is the repayment on that loan.