State to reduce pensions for three ex-firefighters
Pay raises in final year improperly counted, auditors say
SEATTLE – Washington auditors have determined that pre-retirement salary increases led to more than $30,000 in excess pension payments for three former firefighters, and the state projects it will save the system more than $140,000 by permanently reducing their combined pension values.
The Department of Retirement Systems concluded that a portion of the raises provided to the Lakewood fire managers at the start of 2010 were improperly counted toward pension calculations because the pay increases were retirement incentives. The state had conducted an audit of the Lakewood cases following an Associated Press series earlier this year that highlighted late raises in an old pension system for law enforcement and firefighters.
Dave Nelsen, the legal and legislative services manager at the Washington state Department of Retirement Systems, said Lakewood officials who approved the raises believed what they were doing was OK.
“I got no indication whatsoever that there was any desire to put one over on anybody,” Nelsen said.
Former Lakewood fire officials Bob Bronoske and Mike McGovern will be asked to repay excess payments of $12,800 and $6,700, respectively, state retirement managers said. The $12,800 in extra payments that went to Greg Hull are billed to the city of DuPont, which has been asked to cover more than $500,000 in his pension payments after the state determined he was improperly classified as a contractor when the city hired him out of retirement.
Along with that immediate collection of money, the state projects that the pension system will save more than $140,000 in future years due to permanent reductions in each of their pension values.
The LEOFF-1 retirement system used by those three Lakewood retirees is unique because it determines pension values based on the worker’s final salary. Other pension systems calculate the retiree’s benefit by looking at an average of the person’s salary over time.
State officials have been examining other pay increases in the LEOFF-1 system and have concluded that another person received overpayments due to late salary increases. The state has declined to release details on that case until it is fully resolved.