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Here's an eye-opener about an incentive aimed at keeping Michigan State Police veterans in uniform when they could leave with a pension:
"An incentive program gives employees with 25 years of experience some $400,000 or more if they agree to stay with the department up to six years after becoming eligible for a retirement benefits," Evan Carter reports at a Mackinac Center for Public Policy news site.
Michigan State Police photo
The Midland journalist adds details about the lucrative Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) aimed at keeping senior troopers and commanders:
An employee with 25 years on the job and an annual salary of $109,000 would walk away with an additional $435,725 after six years in the program, according to an analysis done by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. In 2016, there were 17 Michigan State Police employees who made $109,000 or more. . . .
After the maximum six years, the incentive is equal to 100 percent of what that employee's pension would be. If the employee stays fewer years, the percentage reduces. . . . When employees in the program retire, they receive the incentive payments as well as monthly pension benefits.
To qualify for the windfall, Carter explains in his Capitol Confidential post, employees can count time in the military, any law enforcement agency or the Peace Corps to meet the 25-year requirement.
Lansing lawmakers unanimously approved the sweet deal in 2004, "a time when legislators could not find money in a stressed state budget to cover the costs of training new classes of recruits to replace normal attrition," Carter writes.
A State Police spokeswoman tells him DROP was adopted "to address the department’s inability to retain an adequate number of enlisted members in the face of mounting attrition." She adds:
"In 2017, despite the support of the governor and legislature in hiring over 650 troopers since 2011, minimal gains in staffing have been achieved.
"Because attrition has been so high and is forecasted to remain high in the upcoming years, the argument for DROP is no less valid today than it was in 2004."
The nonprofit Mackinac Center in Midland, which says it offers "a an alternative to 'bigger government' remedies in policy debates," sees the incentive as a form of double-dipping "because officers get a type of retirement benefit while still working and collecting a paycheck."
A link to the free-market center's post is shared more than 120 times from its Facebook page, where is has more than 100 comments.
-- Alan Stamm
