More Waste And Abuse In NJ’s Pension System [AUDIO]

Its another example of New Jersey taxpayers paying for pension waste and abuse.

A New Jersey Watchdog investigation reveals there are 18 double-dippers in the state’s office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.

The report found the 18 officials, half of whom are state police retirees, have collected nearly $9 million in state pension checks.

Those double-dippers currently receive more than $3 million a year – $1.3 million in state pension checks plus $1.7 million in salaries. On average, each gets $171,000 a year – $95,000 a year in salary plus $76,000 in retirement pay.

Each started collecting pensions after “retiring” for one day, returning to the state payroll with a different job title the following day.

Monmouth University political analyst Patrick Murray says even with Governor Christie cracking down on the abuse, its still hard to regulate. “Obviously New Jerseyans are fed up…I think that the governor has raised expectations that some of this is going to get fixed…but at the same time, I don’t think they are holding him entirely accountable just because of the way New Jersey has been governed over the past couple of decades.”

New Jersey Watchdog’s analysis of state payroll and pension records for the 18 officials also found:

- One-third “retired” from public employment for one day to start drawing state pensions.

- Half are State Police retirees; the rest retired from other state or local law enforcement units.

- The average age of retirement was 49

“This is just part of the way the system can be manipulated for people who want to make a little extra money at the expense of taxpayers…and this could lead residents to a revolt… they hope it gets better, but they don’t hold out a lot of optimism that it will” said Murray.