Ficano's bag man gets 97k pension.

**Ray1936** · August-26-13, 06:31 PM

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...275f2c3b0af1aa

Surprised no one has commented on this. WTF is wrong with the politics back there? And some wondered why I bailed.

**DetroitPlanner** · August-26-13, 07:15 PM

I am too steamed about it to write much. I know who I am NOT voting for next time.

**Al Publican** · August-26-13, 08:51 PM

Are there any ongoing investigations into Ficano's admin? I no longer live in Michigan and don't follow stuff there on a daily basis. Any RICO stuff ever looked at this bunch?

**jj84** · August-26-13, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...275f2c3b0af1aa

Surprised no one has commented on this. WTF is wrong with the politics back there? And some wondered why I bailed.

As sick as it is, he is due the money, he carried his pension over from his last job, which he is allowed to do. He bought into the Wayne County system at over 300K. Bobby's fault that he gave him the buy out and the voters need to change the laws in the state constitution that gave him the right to be able to do that

**corktownyuppie** · August-27-13, 07:07 AM

Originally Posted by jj84

As sick as it is, he is due the money, he carried his pension over from his last job, which he is allowed to do. He bought into the Wayne County system at over 300K. Bobby's fault that he gave him the buy out and the voters need to change the laws in the state constitution that gave him the right to be able to do that

I think that's the problem Ray is referring to. The problem isn't that it's illegal and Bobby did it anyway. The problem is that it IS legal and no one ever seems willing to do anything about it.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · August-27-13, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by corktownyuppie

I think that's the problem Ray is referring to. The problem isn't that it's illegal and Bobby did it anyway. The problem is that it IS legal and no one ever seems willing to do anything about it.

That is sickening. This guy didn't even put 10 years on the job, starts drawing it next year when he turns 42 years old. If he lives to be in his 80's, his pension will be worth well over a million dollars. You have people that retired from the county with over 30 years barely getting $1,500 dollars per month, that probably did 3 times the work this guy did. Ficano needs to go and laws need to be changed.

**jj84** · August-27-13, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

That is sickening. This guy didn't even put 10 years on the job, starts drawing it next year when he turns 42 years old. You have people that retired from the county with over 30 years barely getting $1,500 dollars per month, that probably did 3 times the work this clown did. Ficano needs to go and laws need to be changed.

He has more years of service, 9 years at the county over 10 at another city he worked for. The state Constitution is what allowed him to buy into the system. No one in Lansing will touch that law though so this will continue.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · August-27-13, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by jj84

He has more years of service, 9 years at the county over 10 at another city he worked for. The state Constitution is what allowed him to buy into the system. No one in Lansing will touch that law though so this will continue.

Whoop-de-doo, 19 years total. "Still doesn't make it right". Looks like I chose the wrong profession.

**Wheels** · August-27-13, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

That is sickening. This guy didn't even put 10 years on the job, starts drawing it next year when he turns 42 years old. If he lives to be in his 80's, his pension will be worth well over a million dollars. You have people that retired from the county with over 30 years barely getting $1,500 dollars per month, that probably did 3 times the work this guy did. Ficano needs to go and laws need to be changed.

It's closer to 4 million!

**jj84** · August-27-13, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

Whoop-de-doo, 19 years total. "Still doesn't make it right". Looks like I chose the wrong profession.

It is right by the way the laws read, it isn't right by common sense and what the private sector has, but until the laws are changed that is the way they read. Look at all the suburban Police/Fire guys that retire with 100K+ pensions.

You probably did - a Fire Fighter was a great profession, 8-10 days a month of work, and if you played the game right with sick/vacation/OT you could walk out with 80k+ pension. Snyder/Lansing has changed some of those multipliers and bonus payments that people could get.

**TexasT** · August-27-13, 10:17 AM

And now he's working at a law firm downtown in the "government relations" group...getting paid to lobby his buddies. On top of drawing this pension.

**jj84** · August-27-13, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by TexasT

And now he's working at a law firm downtown in the "government relations" group...getting paid to lobby his buddies. On top of drawing this pension.

Is that any better than the wayne county commissioner who's full time job is lobbying people, that is not conflict of interest at all.

**Wesley Mouch** · August-27-13, 10:56 AM

I hope that during Wayne County's upcoming bankruptcy / EM, adjustments can be made. Although I'm sure the 'party members' have protected their benefits very well.

Does anyone think 19 years of service should be a multi-million dollar pension starting at 42? I don't even think the most liberal interpretation of the idea of pensions includes that.

**coracle** · August-27-13, 12:38 PM

Obviously the whole question of Public Sector Pensions using other people's Tax money needs to be completely overhauled and probably completely squashed. If somebody wants to earn a Pension funded by their employer they should get a real job not take it out of the pockets of their neighbors.

**mwilbert** · August-27-13, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by coracle

Obviously the whole question of Public Sector Pensions using other people's Tax money needs to be completely overhauled and probably completely squashed. If somebody wants to earn a Pension funded by their employer they should get a real job not take it out of the pockets of their neighbors.

This is nonsense. There isn't any reason policemen or firefighters or soldiers [[or janitors or mailcarriers or administrators either) shouldn't get a pension simply because their jobs are in the public sector. The problem isn't whether the jobs are public or private, the problem is that the pension rules are too generous to certain classes of retiree.

Now, you might claim that because the legislators and their cronies benefit from pension loopholes, they don't get closed and abuse is inevitable. I could agree with that, and that would be a good reason for them not to have pensions, or at least not pensions that they control the rules of. But the reason isn't that they are somehow less-deserving, but rather that it isn't clear how to make the system work properly if the fox is guarding the henhouse.

Note that the "golden parachutes" in the private sector work the same way, and for the same reasons--the people making the rules have each others' interests in mind more than the shareholders or other stakeholders.

**DetroitPlanner** · August-27-13, 01:48 PM

Coracle, we do have real jobs. Who do you call when your house catches fire or you get robbed, your banker?

Those of us with public pensions have taken lower paying jobs with the expectation that these dollars will be there to help us after retirement. My agency views this as part of my total compensation. It is money that I would have had to invest in my 457 if I did not have a pension.

Truth is that when done right a pension is a much safer saving vehicle than a 401k/457 as it has professionals managing the entire portfolio and not whacking so many people for fees. The current problem with them is that in many cases cities are employing fewer people than they once did but the payout remain the same.

I take offense to someone saying I do not have a real job. I work 50+ hours per week yet get paid for 37.5. I have saved the City tens of millions of dollars over the last several years and have worked on getting projects such as M-1, Campus Martius, the Riverwalk, and Dequindre Cut delivered.

It is boneheads who take advantage of their situations that make pensions an issue, it is not administrators, firemen, or cops who are doing what they can to improve conditions.

**nain rouge** · August-27-13, 02:44 PM

Oh please, public pensions are a racket. I'd have to add several years of earnings to equal this guys pension, and yet you want me to be happy that they're taxing people like us to pay for it? You guys think you deserve to live above the economy and it's really rotten.

**nain rouge** · August-27-13, 02:51 PM

Oh, and it always amazes me how government bureaucrats find a way to get projects like Campus Martius completed, but hand them tens of millions of dollars to help distressed homeowners and they can't figure out how to spend a dime. Thank God we have bike trails to nowhere though, right?

**DetroitPlanner** · August-27-13, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Oh please, public pensions are a racket. I'd have to add several years of earnings to equal this guys pension, and yet you want me to be happy that they're taxing people like us to pay for it? You guys think you deserve to live above the economy and it's really rotten.

I would too. He has put in $300k of his own money to help it along. Most public employees don't have $300k to buy that much time. Most pension plans refuse to pay out until you have put in 30 years and won't pay out until you're a minimum age [[typically 55 to 60).

It is guys like this that are taking advantage of the system. 99 percent of the people who get pensions are not able to do this. Thats why this is news. It is NOT normal. Believe me I am not living above the economy. I am not pulling in the same money I would if I worked in the private sector doing the same work.

**DetroitPlanner** · August-27-13, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Oh, and it always amazes me how government bureaucrats find a way to get projects like Campus Martius completed, but hand them tens of millions of dollars to help distressed homeowners and they can't figure out how to spend a dime. Thank God we have bike trails to nowhere though, right?

If these are to nowhere, why are they being used everyday? Why are they attracting jobs and investment? Why are they continuing to expand them and link them to other areas?

**coracle** · August-27-13, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Those of us with public pensions have taken lower paying jobs with the expectation that these dollars will be there to help us after retirement. My agency views this as part of my total compensation. It is money that I would have had to invest in my 457 if I did not have a pension.

I take offense to someone saying I do not have a real job. I work 50+ hours per week yet get paid for 37.5. I have saved the City tens of millions of dollars over the last several years and have worked on getting projects such as M-1, Campus Martius, the Riverwalk, and Dequindre Cut delivered.

If the city purchased as many services as practical from the Private Sector you could work for a Company they employed, so you wouldn't have to take the lower paying job and you could afford to purchase your own Pensions; and I as a taxpayer could reasonably expect that if the contractor didn't do the job they'd be fired. [[like ambulance response time for instance)
It wasn't my intention to offend you personally and it is obviously laudable that your herculean efforts have saved tens of millions of dollars. If all workers had saved the city the same amount there wouldn't have been the need for bankruptcy.

**DetroitPlanner** · August-28-13, 12:01 AM

What you are suggesting is akin to Robocop. There already is a ton of contracting that goes on, but to move everything in that direction is just a giant race to the bottom. You will end up with a central call center for the cops in Bismark ND where you will have customer service folks who do not know Detroit issues dispatching police that do not know that Five Mile and Fenkell are the same road. An employee needs to have loyalty to the City and its people, not to Omni Consumer Products. I know exactly who I serve; those that pay my salary directly, not some corporation that will ship me off to someplace I don't want to be.

**nain rouge** · August-29-13, 12:32 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

If these are to nowhere, why are they being used everyday? Why are they attracting jobs and investment? Why are they continuing to expand them and link them to other areas?

Please, if this was the '80s, you'd be telling me what a success the People Mover and pedestrian-orientated redesign of Washington Boulevard were. After all, the People Mover has generally had 1-2 million riders a years, and I'm sure enough people liked walking down the "mall" on Washington. But in the end, as we all know now, it was bunk. But those with money don't get the same satisfaction out of improving police response times by a few minutes in Brightmoor as they do new with new toys and playgrounds downtown.

I am not pulling in the same money I would if I worked in the private sector doing the same work.

Right, because you're counting on what a normal person would consider a hefty pension. But you figure you deserve, especially since you'll have to wait to the ripe old age of 55 or some other ridiculously far off date to collect it.

**old guy** · August-29-13, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Right, because you're counting on what a normal person would consider a hefty pension. But you figure you deserve, especially since you'll have to wait to the ripe old age of 55 or some other ridiculously far off date to collect it.

Don't quite understand that one.

**DetroitPlanner** · August-29-13, 07:35 AM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Please, if this was the '80s, you'd be telling me what a success the People Mover and pedestrian-orientated redesign of Washington Boulevard were. After all, the People Mover has generally had 1-2 million riders a years, and I'm sure enough people liked walking down the "mall" on Washington. But in the end, as we all know now, it was bunk. But those with money don't get the same satisfaction out of improving police response times by a few minutes in Brightmoor as they do new with new toys and playgrounds downtown.

Right, because you're counting on what a normal person would consider a hefty pension. But you figure you deserve, especially since you'll have to wait to the ripe old age of 55 or some other ridiculously far off date to collect it.

Are you really comparing the impact of the Riverwalk and Campus Martius to the Monkey Bars and People Mover? Don't blame me for those sins. I was in grade school for Wash Blvd and High School for the DPM. You might as well blame me for not finishing Judge Woodward's Plan!

As a West Sider I know very well about the impact of not having enough police in Brightmoor or other neighborhoods. I've lived there my whole life and have always thought that we underinvest in neighborhoods. Those are policy issues based upon having too few dollars. I don't set the policies you elect those that do. You also elected the guy who gave this wealthy bozo who this thread is devoted to his job. Plain and simple he is taking advantage of the system to a degree that 99 percent of municipal employees cannot or by moral obligation will not do. That is why this is news. People should not be allowed to have four places at the trough.

Do not attack me because I have a pension. I took a lower paying job because of the financial security. Yeah I am driving a 12 year old car but I am willing to do so so that my future would not be so rocky. Now after 20 years my pension as well as the pension of my parents is under attack. Suddenly we are being seen as leeches instead of being contributors and workers, so yeah I am defensive.

I do not support the guy who the OP talks about. He is totally taking advantage of the fact that he has a lot of cash to buy lots of years [[a provision of many pensions that I don't necessarily agree with, but I admit I am not an actuary).