DROP participants will retire and return
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DROP participants will retire and return
Jan Ransom
City Councilwoman Marian Tasco will retire on Friday, collect a six-figure pension payment and then return to work after she is sworn-in on Monday to serve her seventh term.
Francis Bielli, executive director for the city’s Board of Pensions and Retirement, said he was recently notified that Tasco, who is enrolled in the controversial Deferred Retirement Option Plan, will retire on Friday and collect $478,057.
Tasco did not respond to requests for comment.
Tasco was reelected despite her participation in DROP, which drew public ire after elected officials entered the program, ran for re-election and retired for a day to get hefty pension payments, only to return to office.
Retiring Councilman Frank DiCicco, who is also in the program, considered running for re-election, but after controversy erupted over DROP, he decided not to. Retiring Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, who is also enrolled in DROP made a similar decision. Councilman Frank Rizzo lost reelection due in-part to his participation in DROP. Retiring members Jack Kelly and Council president Anna Verna are also DROP participants.
Some City Hall insiders said DROP was Tasco’s biggest roadblock in her unsuccessful bid for Council president –the second most politically powerful job in the city. Several incoming members said they would not support a DROP participant for president. Councilman Darrell Clarke will be Council’s next president replacing Verna.
Mayor Nutter has tried in vain to eliminate the DROP program. In September, Council voted to override Nutter’s veto of a bill, sponsored by Tasco that would preserve the DROP program, while reducing its cost.
Nutter has vowed to work “tirelessly” to abolish the program.
Another elected official set to return after collecting his DROP payment is Register of Wills Ronald Donatucci, who retired Dec. 23 and will also return on Monday, Bielli said. He collected $366,797.
This is shocking. If you retire, you are retired. Can't the DROP payment be stopped on the theory that the retirement is completely fictional? There is no retirement if the person plans on returning to work the following work day. I simply do not understand this at all.— BarbaraM- It is shocking and disgraceful. Shame on her and shame on us for electing these brazen corrupt officials who take right in front of us in broad daylight. Marion Tasco? Anna Verna? Kelly? What good can they claim to have done for this city, when they are lining their pockets at a time when many of us are out of work with no retirement savings and with more and more cuts in city services? These are the people we keep electing. — yohahn
Comment removed.- Keep voting Democrat ! — hotelguy
- Remember Darlin' Arlen? - I'm changing my party so I can get RE-Elecchhted.... cut from the same cloth. — bad joe s
- If someone would organize a party to oppose the Dems in Philadelphia, maybe voters would have an alternative. The Reps in Philadelphia are content to have the spoils of the Parking Authority. They don't even bother to field decent candidates in municipal elections. — Charles B
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- @BarbarM, its called business. If you are not smart enough
to make sure that a deal is in your best interest, then
it is your fault for not doing your homework, and not being
responsible for your self. Retirement usually means that
after a certain age, and a certain number of years of
"service", you get certain annuity, or "equivalent" lump sum
payment. That's it. It doesn't restrict you on what
to do with your life and time, and if you want to
work somewhere, well, if it is not in the contract,
dumb contract, and too bad.— OldMrP - OldMrP, it's not business. It's something else--corrupt politicians. When city politicians negotiate employee pay and benefits with the unions who contribute to their reelection campaigns, nobody is representing the taxpayers. — Falls Ed
- criminals— Zero
- "criminals"____Absolutely not. Ms. Tasco, and many others, are merely following the legal guidelines of the DROP Program. While it may be infuriating to most people, including me, the people benefiting from DROP are not "criminals". In fact, given the opportunity most of the people submitting negative posts regarding this story would do exactly what Ms. Tasco is doing - they would be fools not to. Until the program is either reformed, or (preferably) dropped, these actions will continue.
— snad264 - Comment removed.
- Where there's a way there's a will...— He Visto Todo
- It's OK. She's a Democrat - she means well. She will be re-elected by the Philly robo-voters.— ObamaSolyndra
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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
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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
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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
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