If you work for the state, you might get laid off, but if you used to work for the city, you may just be getting a nice, fat pension check.
More than 80 former employees of the city received payments if more than $100,000 in retirement payments in 2008, the voiceofsandiego.org reported. Topping the list is former Deputy City Manager Patricia Frazier, who received $165,870.
That’s not the worst of it. Since the program began in 1997, five former city employees have received more pensions in excess of $1 million.
The Deferred Retirement Option (DROP) program allows workers nearing retirement to receive a monthly pension payment prior to retirement, which then accrues at a guaranteed rate. That rate was recently lowered to 7.75 percent.
Mayor Jerry Sanders has called for pension reform since the data was released. Critics of the controversial program -- including City Councilman Carl DeMaio -- said it is bankrupting San Diego’s municipal pension budget and have called for the interest rate to be reduced to 4 percent.
