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Pension fund overpays Ore. police, firefighters
Thursday, August 21, 2008 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND (AP) — Police and firefighters in Portland have been overpaid $3.1 million in benefits since 1995 because of a mistake in calculating payments ordered by the Legislature.
The Portland Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund’s board of trustees will meet next week to determine whether to recover the payments to 940 retirees or eat the cost.
Fund officials have no explanation for the mistake or who was responsible for it 13 years ago, saying that there was no documentation of the pension calculations in fund records or board minutes.
The calculations were a result of orders from the Legislature, which required additional benefits to compensate for the state’s taxation of public employee pensions.
Among those getting extra money are Mayor Tom Potter, a retired Portland police chief, and City Commissioner Randy Leonard, a retired firefighter. Potter has been receiving $19 a month extra, Leonard $47.
Leonard is a former trustee of the fund. He didn’t offer to pay back the extra money. Instead, he suggested, “If they overpaid, they should quit it.”
The fund said it would do so, recalculating the benefits it will now send out.
The average overpayment was about 2.38 percent, according to fund figures, and the monthly excess ranged from more than $100 to less than a dollar.
The Portland Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund’s board of trustees will meet next week to determine whether to recover the payments to 940 retirees or eat the cost.
Fund officials have no explanation for the mistake or who was responsible for it 13 years ago, saying that there was no documentation of the pension calculations in fund records or board minutes.
The calculations were a result of orders from the Legislature, which required additional benefits to compensate for the state’s taxation of public employee pensions.
Among those getting extra money are Mayor Tom Potter, a retired Portland police chief, and City Commissioner Randy Leonard, a retired firefighter. Potter has been receiving $19 a month extra, Leonard $47.
Leonard is a former trustee of the fund. He didn’t offer to pay back the extra money. Instead, he suggested, “If they overpaid, they should quit it.”
The fund said it would do so, recalculating the benefits it will now send out.
The average overpayment was about 2.38 percent, according to fund figures, and the monthly excess ranged from more than $100 to less than a dollar.
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