| Double Dipping by Elected Officials |
Earlier
this year, I received inquiries from concerned voters as to the
legality of a "double-dipping" practice being used by some elected officials in
counties across Arkansas. The practice
is the collection of retirement benefits from an elected position while also currently holding and being paid a salary for an elected position.
As
a financial services agent, I deal with retirement benefits from the private
sector all the time. But, in private
industry you have to actually leave the job and completely separate from your
employer in order to be eligible to receive any of your benefits. So the idea of being able to retain your job
without any loss of seniority or compensation and draw full retirement benefits
by elected officials seemed too good to be true, possibly illegal, and at
minimum an abuse of public trust if not fully disclosed.
The
situation: After winning a primary
election (and with no general election opposition) the elected official, with
the countersignature of someone else in the county government, would internally,
and with no public notice, declare themselves retired from their public
office. Then after 90 days, the
official with the assistance of someone else in the county would file for
retirement benefits with the Arkansas Public Employment Retirement System
(APERS). Remember, that elected
officials can accrue time at twice the rate of a regular state employee which
can lead to large payouts for long serving county officials (state officials
are now term-limited). After benefits begin, the elected official,
once again without public notice, declares themselves rehired for their current
position. Without swearing a new oath
they resume duties of their previously elected office. These elected officials utilized a law set
up to retain the best career state employees and in doing so have potentially
placed the State of Arkansas, their respective counties, APERS, and the
taxpayers in a very difficult situation.
I
submitted a list of questions related to this practice to the Attorney
General's office and on June 2nd I received an opinion that said
this practice as utilized by elected officials could be considered illegal.
As
a result of this opinion I have asked Legislative audit and APERS (Arkansas
Public Employee Retirement System) to compile a list going back 10 years of all
elected officials that have collected retirement from APERS as well as
collecting their regular compensation for the elected office. In addition I
have met with Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and provided information to his
office. If necessary, I am prepared to
work with fellow legislators to file the legislation to prevent this abuse of
taxpayer trust in the future
Many
of those who have admitted to participating in this scheme to increase their
income by 50% or more have justified it by stating they thought it was an
"acceptable practice" that "others had done it in the past" and that no one at
the public retirement system (APERS) said they couldn't get benefits without
actually leaving office. As children,
when we were caught with our hands in the cookie jar, few of us ever got away
with saying "everyone else is doing it."
As
information trickles out several names have surfaced and not only do they hold
an elected office, some are in other important positions of influence. It is
these types of politicians that give the many hard working public servants out
there a bad name! Unfortunately it only takes a few bad apples to make the
whole barrel appear rotten!
They
forget that an elected office is a position of responsibility, public trust,
leadership, and most of all service to your constituents. An elected official must be held to a higher
standard because of the position entrusted to them by the voters. Another question asked by voters is if they
are willing to perpetrate this scheme, what else have they taken because they
felt "entitled." What else are they
unwilling to disclose to voters who should be able to make an informed decision
about who holds public office in their counties and across the state. As these kinds of abuses come to light, I
find them to be another testament to the reason to enact term limits at all
levels of government.
With
good reason, the APERS retirement documents that the officials signed (and
countersigned by another member of the county government) state that
fraudulently signing the documents and receiving retirement benefits could be
punishable by jail time and a requirement to repay the money to the retirement
system. APERS like private pension and
retirement systems are designed to be solvent based upon a certain set of rules
and regulations. When those rules are
broken, they put the retirement funds in jeopardy. Teachers, state employees, and hard working
county employees that have served the public good for most of their lives could
face reduced payments. Or the threat of
insolvency could also lead to increased taxes or reduced services for necessary
programs - all because rules were broken.
It is particularly troubling that the rules were broken by those in the
positions of elected public trust.
So
what will happen now? The attorney Generals office will investigate and
determine the extent of this fraud and petition a court to determine the proper
punishment.
It
is very important that the proper punishment is implemented. The AG's office is
looking at repayment of the wrongly paid benefits and or resignation of their
offices. Either way, at the next
election, voters should have the full accounting so they can make an informed
decision about who they elect to public office.
In
the past week there have been many news articles and blogs written on this
subject matter of "double dipping" and retirement benefit fraud. I will provide updated links and information on my website in the news section and provide information I gather
during this process so that Arkansans can make the decision for
themselves. The information will include a copy of the Attorney General's opinion as well as documents prepared by legislative audit in response to my queries.
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