DROP participants will retire and return
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.
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.
All you democrats voted this low life in.— duh66
Disgraceful. This is an example of something Occupy should have protested. This is the powerful of the city taking advantage of loopholes they created. She should be ashamed.— jonline- This really does make the governed of Philly look like losers that they are so powerless to stop such a public and ballsy "f**k you."— Wilton Cabbage
- @frank castle: Are you advocating giving a Mayor total authority? Our government is designed to prevent such a thing, which is why city council is needed, same as the with the federal government (the two houses)— realtor44
- What a pig!— Wildman Bill
- As long as the city taxpayers refuse to DROP Marian and Donatucci, these double-dippers and publicly-funded ilk that call themselves leaders will always water at the public well.— Anne Arkey
- Another day of democrats stealing from the middle class and the ignorant Philly voters continue of vote D— ignorantphillydem
- I can't believe we let these kind of payments happen. No public servant should be getting these kinds of bonus's or retirement perks. The amount is incredible. There should be someone who can stop this.— mbutley
- So glad I don't live in or around Philly anymore. Power corrupts.— Fritz and Alice
- Oink, oink. What do you expect?— PotteryPete
- @realtor44...The federal government is one thing, city run governments were designed with the mayor as the focal point. If you do a review, you'll find that over time, the mayor is in place to insure or insulate citizens that their city will be managed effectively via economics & public policy. Should change be needed, issues are placed on the ballot to be voted for or against. Referencing the management of the federal government...it is & has been evident by the recent struggles that have occured with the two houses that you mentioned. The bickering & filabustering and delays that have embarassed & humiliated our current President should be evidence that none of that should be present in our city government. The issues are more complex on a national level with complex positioning, debating,media coverage,etc. In the end managing a city government vs managing the federal government & also being the Commander In Chief of the armed forces speaks volumns for the need for the Senate,Congress and the House of Representatives.— frank castle
Comment removed.- What about the idiots that voted her back into office. The people in her district need to be held accountable as well.— fozziebear
- Comment removed.
Being on city Council is the same as being retired, they don't do squat, except waste other people's money.— Cardinal Fang
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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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