Council Releases DROP Report
Get inside the halls of Philadelphia power with PhillyClout: Inside City Hall, the blog by the Philadelphia Daily News' city hall reporters.
Council Releases DROP Report
Catherine Lucey
City Council today finally released their long-awaited report on the controversial DROP program.
As expected, Council's consultant, Bolton Partners Inc., found that the city's controversial Deferred Retirement Option Plan cost $100 million - substantially less than the $258 million price tag put on the plan last August by Boston College researchers hired by Mayor Nutter.
According to a press release from Council President Anna Verna, the Boston College academics concede that upon reviewing the some of the questions raised by Bolton, that the cost would go down to about $150 milllion. But they said they would need to do further analysis to make any more adjustments.
In the release, Verna said Council is reviewing ways to modify DROP rather than abolish it, like lowering the interest rate on DROP accounts or raising the age at which employees could enter. Hearings are not expected until April.
Mayor Nutter today said he still wanted to see the program abolished.
"I don't know what these proposed modifications might be," he said. "The citizens want it to go away. We can't afford it."
DROP allows city employees who are eligible for retirement to collect both a city salary and a pension for up to four years after they join the program. The pension payments go into an escrow account, earning 4.5 percent interest, payable to the employee in a lump sum when he or she leaves the city payroll.
Public anger has been stoked by elected officials participating in DROP - including a couple who signed up for it, ran for re-election, "retired" for a single day, collected six-figure DROP payments, then resumed collecting city paychecks. Three Council members enrolled in DROP plan to run for re-election - Marian Tasco, Frank DiCicco and Frank Rizzo. Another three will retire.
AND?.... Whether it's 100 million or 258, IT'S TOO MUCH!! DROP needs 1 of 2 things, either to be outright abolished; or go through a comprehensive overhaul. One in which elected officials cannot take part/retire for 1 day then come back to work & a lower fixed interest rates during the deferment period.(4 years) Clearly the current terms are too generous. They need to get this straightened out! Too bad we don't have anybody who will push the mayor on it since no one's running against him. Here's your chance Nutter - DO SOMETHING!— Kennedy
Two words for Philly Morally Bankrupt!— Kevinmac- OK, fine the DROP program is flawed and should go away according to most people, more importantly what is the Mayor doing about his consultants admitting to at LEAST $108 million mistake? How much did he pay for his report?— PatTarzan
Fine. I say keep DROP, and abolish City Council.— mccarte1
I'm for modifying DROP by completing the official policy to limit it to public safety personnel, at retirement only, as is done with the successful users of the program (like in Florida).
We all got here because senior elected and political appointees were participating in the program at great cost to the city, despite their intentions to come back for a new term (and their $110K base salaries). Let's keep the program to what it was intended to do, suppliment the pensions of retired public servants who A) can't work at 79 years old (Verna), and B) desperately need it after a career of physical and emotional trauma.- We can't have DROP and have career politicians raiding it. If you want to give city employees access to this cash grab, do it. People in elected positions earning retirement bonuses is an insult to their constituency. It has corruption and one-party rule written all over it.— DonQ
Follow Chris on Twitter
David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
Follow Dave on Twitter.
Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
Follow Sean on Twitter
