WHAT IS THE JANUARY 2001 PENSION RESOLUTION COSTING AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT?

One of the worst decisions of our city government, both the Mayor and the City Council, was the unanimous approval of the January 2001 pension resolution allowing elected and appointed officials to retire after 12 years of service, regardless of age.

Recently, watchdog asked for the cost information of this decision in an open records request. Here are the results.

The current annual cost of the pension payments as of august 2006 is $1,292,862.
The current annual cost of the medical premiums by the City is $393,000.
The total cost to date from the start date of January 16, 2001 is $3,653,503.
The total cost until all the eligible people have retired under this program is unknown but this is only for 56 people and there are hundreds more that are eligible. It will be well over $60 million dollars.

Click below to see those who are receiving this largess and note some familiar names.

http://memphiswatchdog.org/downloads/retiree%20pensions%20under%20jan%202001%20pension%20resolution%2010-11-06.pdf

· Roland McElrath, Director of Finance, who is now back working for the City.
· Rick Masson, former Chief Administrative Office, who is now chairman of the MLGW board.
· Robert Spence, former City Attorney, and now doing lots of City paid legal work.