Municipal budget pressures that are "unsustainable," as Hamtramck's acting city manager puts it, stem partly from hefty pension checks for more than four dozen retired emergency workers, Chaerles Seracombe reports in the city's weekly paper.
The city, with an $18-million budget, pays $3.5 million a year (19 percent) to support 251 retirees and their beneficiaries, according to The Hamtramck Review article.
And for 51 retirees, their pensions would be the envy of many ordinary Hamtramck residents. . . .
The top 51 pensioners are all retired from the police or fire departments.
Each draws at least $4,000 a month, city records show. Seracombe contrasts their yearly earnings of $48,000 or more and the city's 2010 median income: $24,366.
The highest pension earner is one of the retired fire chiefs, who collects $9,337 a month, or in other words $112,044 a year.
The reporter notes that payments typically are based on the highest five years of pay, with unused days off given a monetary value that adds to the monthly total.
For many police and fire retirees, the calculation for pensions also included overtime pay. In the 1980s, the Police Department offered unlimited overtime for traffic patrol. Some officers racked up $20,000 extra per year working overtime.
