Capitol Confidential | Here’s your Top 100 state employee pensions and for schools too

Findings from TUA’s pension project on New York State are featured in this article at Capitol Confidential.

We’ve had lists for some time now of state and local public employee salaries and pensions, starting first with the Empire Center and then followed by newspapers including our own.

The phenomenon has spread over the past few years, thanks to digitization of payroll data, the growing ease of putting documents on the web, and a growing awareness of the cost of government.

The latest twist comes from the Illinois-based Taxpayers United of America which is looking to expand membership to other high-tax states like New York and Pennsylvania.

The group’s vice-president Christina Tobin and outreach director, Rae Ann McNeilly, came through Albany this morning and they were equipped with their version of Top 100 government pensions list. Rather than listing individuals with fat pensions, they use actuarial predictions to attach an overall cost per person.

Philip W. Wood, SUNY’s former vice chancellor for capitol facilities, for instance, gets a $186,295 pension, and put in actuarial terms his estimated payout is $6.9 million — based on a model that assumes retirement at age 55 and a lifespan to age 85.

A brief look at the costliest retirements suggest that K-12 public schools, SUNY, the health care and legal fields pay the most.

In the school system, the highest cost comes from former Commack Superintendent James Hunderfund, whose actuarial cost is a eye-popping $11.8 million.