The Albany Times Union reported three years ago that 690 public school retirees and 899 state and local government retirees received lifetime pensions of at least $100,000 per year. Many, including the most lavish recipient of public pensions, George Philip, get to go back to work even after receiving their pensions and double dip. Mr. Philip, for example, gets a $261,000 pension for his work in the NYS Retirement System (sounds like he did his job well!) and now he gets to collect over $280,000 a year as the SUNY-Albany President. Nice work if you can get it.
And this old New York Post article documents that public librarians are among the most well compensated retirees. Here is a little more on two of them:
Being expert in the Dewey Decimal System really pays off.
Some of the richest pensions in the state are doled out to the loyal ex-librarians of the New York Public Library. The seventh and ninth most generous pensions in New York (wintercow emphasis), higher than every single state law-enforcement officer, belong to recently retired city librarians. Indeed, for librarians willing to put in the time, the rewards are great – only retired doctors and attorneys have higher pensions from the state, which administers city library pensions.
After she retired as senior vice president for human resources from the NYPL in April 2008, Priscilla Southon earned the distinction of having the seventh highest pension in the state. Her pension comes to $188,846 a year. Reached outside her East 69th Street home, Southon, 68, declined to comment. An NYPL spokesman said she worked at the library for 40 years.
Just behind Southon at No. 9 for the state’s richest pension is Mary Conwell. Conwell, 65, retired from the NYPL in August 2004 as director of branches. She now enjoys her $184,498 pension from her Central Park West apartment. Conwell did not return a call seeking comment.
I’d like to see an updated study.
The librarian scene is a bizarre one. Librarians don’t write, edit, print or publish books. They order them and put them on shelves. Much like employees in a supermarket manage grocery inventory. Yet “library science” is a master’s degree program and librarians earn enviable salaries and lavish retirement benefits. The private sector counterparts of public libraries, used book stores, new book retailers and video rental shops pay a fraction of the wages of libraries with far less, if any other benefits. But, since the taxpayer picks up the tab, it’s all good.
If your looking for an exceptionally cush job, look no further.
I cannot fault the librarians any more than the Newport Beach lifeguards for pursuing an easy job with great retirement benefits. However, it does illustrate what happens when people spend other people’s money. But public employees are hardly restrained at all in scratching each other’s backs, and the result is absurd.
Philadelphia often goes through financial crises, and often one of the first threats from any and all mayors is to close the libraries. I used to think that was silly, but maybe not.
By the way, every time Al Gore “wrote” a book, our local branch of the (county) government-run library would display it prominently. As Chuck Martel pointed out, they get to edit the book list.
What a scam. This confirms my general misanthropy.
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