Will city retirees have to pay back miscalculated retirement benefits?
December 15, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
The Duluth City Council will decide Monday whether to help former city employees who received retirement benefit overpayments or ask them to fork over the excess money they collected in years gone by.
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Was NOT a City mistake. PERA made the mistake. Just because “The City” and “Retirees” appear in the same sentence together doesn’t mean the City is guilty.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Mike, excuse me but the city reported income that they shouldn’t have and PERA caught the mistake. The city of Duluth is getting it’s money back plus interest. Retirees have been paying PERA back. I know because I had to.
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quagmire, PERA did not catch mistake, City Treasurer turned city in. Just saying….
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How about reporting how much the 108 retirees pension benefits are each month/year? How about the option of having the city help the retirees by allowing them a low interest loan to pay back the overpayment? (Note – this is money that was never rightfully theirs, error or not. It is money that belongs to all retirees and keeping it weakens the fund for all retirees down the road) I’m a little tired of the “fixed income” argument. I’m surprised no one was quoted as suggesting the retirees get to keep the incorrect benefit amount since they are “on a fixed income and would have trouble adjusting to a lower one” – because saying that they couldn’t adjust a pay it back is pretty much suggesting that there is no way they could live with less than they are receiving now. God help those of us that have to save for our own retirement.
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Toby, speaking for myself, I would rather pay PERA back than get a handout from the city. PERA takes the money out of your monthly benefit which is fine with me. The city attaches too many “strings” and the less I have to do with them(city) the better off I’ll be. Now if I owed $18000 It would be good to get the help because that amount could be devastating.
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If a cashier returns too much change to you, don’t you give back what was not rightly yours?
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The comment that disturbs me is, not their error. I agree with that but when they benefited which they did. .Then obviously the mistake would be at someone elses expense. If on the other hand they had been short changed they would be entitled to have that made up. I have to feel that they are at least responsible for a portion of that debt. Retired or not. .
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I think a more accurate comparison would be if your bank accidentally overpaid its interest to you. Say three dollars a month for three or four years. Then they send you a letter and say “we made a mistake now give us that money back.” This money is not public money its wages that have been jointly invested to provide retirement benefits. If there was a mistake it was most certainly on the side of those managing the funds. As long as it doesn’t compromise the fund it should be treated the same was a losing investment. Something that happens but isn’t fun.
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I as a taxpayer give up my rights to any portion of the overpayment. Not the fault of the retirees, the fault of the system. The system is audited each year and if it was a problem it should have been caught nearly 20 years ago. Let’s just move forward.
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wolverines, I take it your life hasn’t been good up to this point.
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