A Twist on Double Dipping

Does your friendly City or County employee also serve as an elected official? Does that smiling face behind the wheel of City or County snow plow serve on City Council? How about that hard working county administrator...does he serve on a City Council or as a part-time Mayor!?

Granted by numbers there are only dozens, or perhaps a hundred or so special folks who are City or County Employees that also serve as elected officials in Lake County. Why these people luck?

Well besides participation the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and the tax-payer funded contributions these people enjoy...time is also vested on top of that as an elected official simultaneously!

That's right!!!! You can earn even more time towards a generous OPERS pension if you are a city or County employee AND you can finagle a seat on City Council or as a part-time Mayor.

My favorite double dipper of this sort is Lake County Assistant Administrator Bill Margalis who has served as Council President of Wickliffe, and is now going to be Mayor!

Who is your favorite double dipper of this sort?

Double Dipping

Last week the News-Herald ran a story about so-called "double dipping. Here is a link to the News-Herald.com story by Dianne Ryder.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer did a story this summer divulging that Commissioners Dimora and Hagan, Sheriff Bob Reid, Cleveland clerk of Courts Earle Turner, and County Treasurer Jim Rokakis are all double dippers.

The definition of "double-dip" is to "obtain income in two different ways, usually in an illicit matter."

Precisely, the double-dipping that we are referring to is the act of of a Public Employee, that is elected official (e.g. Auditor, County Commissioner, etc.); civil servant (e.g. teacher, superintendent, county administrator, other county employee, city worker) retires from public service and is re-hired after a short period. Upon re-hire the retired public employee collects the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS) pension AND the salary at the position they were re-hired to fill.

This activity is rampant everywhere. In Lake County Commissioners Dan Troy and Bob Aufuldish served for many years as elected officials and now collections OPERS pensions and salaries as County Commissioners.

Superintendent Keith Miller of the Willoughby-Eastlake Schools is retired and collecting a pension while serving as WEL Superintendent.

With unemployment ballooning...the young not being able to find jobs...do we need elected officials, city, county and state civil servants collecting a pension and a salary? Should they be taking up valuable jobs after decades of service?

Mind you: DOUBLE-DIPPING IS LEGAL IN OHIO. But, is it ethical?

Anyone want to point out more double-dippers?

A Good Question and Some Things we Need to Know

If someone offered you $1, would you spend $2 to get it?

An age old questions asked in many forms is why a politician is willing to spend so much money campaigning to get a job that only pays a fraction. Case in point.
Matt Dolan (R, Russel Township) is said to be interested in spending $1 million of his own money to be the Cuyahoga County Executive according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer and The News-Herald. Dolan is a State Representative that comes from a family of well known businessmen. However, if Dolan spends $1 million of his own money to make $175, 000 does this sound like good business?
Several public officials told David Glaser in a News-Herald article that it ain't about the money!
The print version of Glaser's article does a much much better job detailing how much your local elected officials on city councils and boards of trustees are making. However, the comments section of the on-line article is more entertaining and honest. The comment section correctly asks the same question raised above.
So why would someone spend $12, 000 on a Mentor City Council Race to make $12, 000 a year? Sure you are making a little bit on this one.
One reason could be the vested time that a council member makes in the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), and the fact that for a few thousand dollars you can by vested time! What a great deal! This is a fact the News-Herald article does not consider.
A source has told us that they recently purchased three years of time in PERS for around $4, 000! Great Deal. Our source is a council member in one of the six cities listed below; one of the smaller ones.

Trustees:

1. Concord Township $20, 5684/yr; 4 year term; pop. 16, 405

2. Painseville $20, 568/yr; 4 year term; pop. 19, 101

3. Perry $19,000/yr; 4 year term; pop. 9, 152

4. Madison $15, 998/yr; 4 year term; pop. 19, 972

5. Leroy $11, 000/yr; 4 year term; pop. 3,883

Council Member:

1. Mentor $12, 000/yr; 4 year term; pop. 51, 825

2. Willoughby $8, 000/yr; 2 year term; pop. 22, 561

3. Willowick $8, 000/yr; 4 year term; pop. 13, 727

4. Eastlake $7, 600/yr; 4 year term; pop. 19, 520

5. Wickliffe $7, 600/ yr; 4 year term; pop. 12, 983

6. Mentor-on-the Lake $6, 050/yr; 4 year term; pop 8, 288

7. Painseville $6, 000/y;r 4 year term; pop. 1, 282

Here is a good example. Wickliffe Councilman Bill Margallis is leading the Mayor's
race. Wait a minute! Bill Margalis is also a County Administrator! That's right! Councilman
Margalisis full time county employee earning vested PERS retirement time, earning time as a
council member, and will now switch hats to become a suburban Mayor! What a great set-up!
He will be earning a handsome salary from the County, benefits, time toward a PERS
pension...and, will supplement that with income from being a Mayor.


Sign me up!


Government is the only section of the workforce that never seems to take a hit, or go long
without a pay raise. A News-Herald article describing the candidate's for Willoughby's Ward 1
race before the election reveals that Willoughby Mayor Dave Anderson will be getting a nearly
7% raise in January 2011. Anderson's $60, 755 salary will increase to $65, 275. Mayor Anderson
is also Willoughby's Safety Director, which pays $35, 017. So, Mayor Anderson's total monetary
compensation will rise from $95, 772 to $100, 292! Zoinks!