Roughly 10 percent of retiring police officers and firefighters who retired in 2011 qualified for $100,000-plus annual pensions, according to data posted by the Empire Center on its government-transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. A total of 95 out of 933 state Police and Fire Retirement System members who retired exceeded that level. The proportion of retirees with pensions of more than $100,000 is three times higher than 10 years ago, the Empire Center found.
The average pension for newly retired police officers and firefighters is $60,798, compared to $25,721 for members of the New York State Employee Retirement System. The pension totals are maximum allowable benefits and action pensions could be lower if, for example, retirees take a lesser benefit to preserve a continuing benefit for survivors, the Empire Center said. SeeThroughNY.net has pension data for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 fiscal years.
Recent police and fire retirees who are eligible for annual pensions of more than $100,000 include former New Rochelle Fire Commissioner Raymond Kiernan, whose maximum is $121,078, and former Deputy Fire Chief Scott Ferguson, whose maximum $113,400. Peter Hirsch, former deputy chief of the Hartsdale Fire Department, retired in 2011 and has a maximum benefit of $139,077. James Cahill, a retired Port Chester police lieutenant, has a pension of as much as $105,596.
In Rockland, Peter Noonan, former Clarkstown police chief, retired in 2011 with a pension of $193,892. He is No. 7 on SeeThroughNY.net’s list of top 100 public-pension earners in the state. Timothy O’Neill, a Clarkstown police detective who also retired last year, receives a maximum benefit of $109,181 a year.
A number of pensions more than $100,000 are from Yonkers police and firefighters who retired in 2011:
—James McLaughlin, $170,104; he is No. 27 on the list of top 100 public pensions
—Daniel Daly, $142,303
—James Hammer, $139,662
—Raymond Dezendorf, $131,416
—Roger Vitolo, $129,956
—Wilson Gonzalez, $125,267
—Michael Del Peschio, $124,836
—Owen Moynihan, $124,599
—Richard Alexander, $123,035
—Stuart Barksdale, $119,406
—George Farrell, $118,784
—Robert Wekerle, $118,401
—Wayne Fornabio, $117,064
—Joseph Tutoni, $116,703
—Roone Arledge, $115,543
—David Roberts, $111,593
—Salvatore Gagliamo, $110,477
—Angelo Prestamo, $109,179
—Christopher Vanacore, $106,499
—Andrew Guski, $102,230
