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The Commack Board of Education's
Response to Double-Dipping Articles
As Published in Newsday

Newsday has recently published articles about retired state employees who continue working while receiving pension payments. Newsday requested that the Commack Board of Education respond to the questions listed below. In an effort to provide our community with as much accurate information as possible, the following are all of the questions posed, and the responses that the Board submitted to Newsday.
Questions were asked and submitted to Newsday Reporter Jennifer Kelleher

The Board's Response

Question: Cuomo's subpoenas are looming over Long Island districts as residents are about to vote on budgets. Is there concern or worry about the timing of this?
 

Answer:  The timing of the Attorney General's Subpoena casts an unfair pall upon next Tuesday's budget votes and trustee elections, particularly since the subject matter of the subpoenas is not primarily within the control of local school boards. The amount of a retiree's pension is determined by the Teachers' Retirement System or the State Comptroller. To be eligible for an interim position, an individual must either receive a waiver from New York State or be over age 65. Local school boards do not have control over either of those factors. If our constituents believe that so called "double dipping" is not proper, they should seek legislative reform. The Attorney General should certainly pursue those who are illegally receiving funds and those who are incarcerated and collecting pension money.  But until the law is changed, school districts must follow it and should continue to hire the most qualified person for the job.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sent a broad-based subpoena to all school districts on Long Island that is intended to address all retired members of the New York State Employee's Retirement System who are providing public service, irrespective of the type or extent of service provided.  For Commack, this subpoena applies to retired police officers and firemen who work in part-time positions as security guards and to retired secretaries who substitute on an irregular basis only.  These people all provide a valuable service because they are familiar with law enforcement, know the school district, and are exempt from some of the benefits the taxpayer would otherwise have to pay.  None earn more than the amount permitted by law, and none are considered full-time. In the case of substitute clerical help, for example, Commack, like most districts, has a shortage of qualified substitutes, and the retired people are not called first; they are usually called only after the list of regular subs is exhausted.  In the case of security personnel, our retired guards are available during the daytime, they have a wealth of past experience, are superbly trained by their former employer, and provide a critical service at a demonstrably lower cost.

Question:  Any message to voters to ease concern?

Answer: The Commack School District always strives to strictly comply with all legal requirements. The pensions of retired individuals are not paid by the school taxes received from Commack residents, but are rather paid from the State retirement funds. Commack residents should be reassured by the recent Comptroller's audit which found the District's finances and procedures to be in very good order. Our response to the Attorney General's Subpoena will reveal no illegal activity in the Commack schools.

Question: Have district officials had to field questions from community members regarding the subpoena issue? Were there letters or any kind of communication sent to help dispel any misunderstanding about the issue?

 

 Answer: Yes, we have had questions at the budget hearing, PTA meetings and Board meetings regarding the pensions received by retired employees. Most of these questions are a result of Newsday's reporting which misleadingly suggested that local school districts are paying for these pensions out of their own budgets.  Once we explain, however, that the School District does not control the amount of the pension received by a retiree and that the District has no pension liability for Dr. Hunderfund or any other retired Commack employee, our constituents have a better understanding of the facts.  Many of them still feel that certain aspects of the pension system need reform and that there should be a cap on the amount.  When they see that the Board and Administration do not necessarily disagree with a legislative response, our voters seem more satisfied with our budget.  In fact, at the last budget hearing, Senator Flanagan and Assemblyman Fitzpatrick were present and there was a robust discussion among citizens and our Superintendent, Dr. Feltman, regarding corrective legislation pending in Albany. 

We did transmit a statement on our website and by e-mail notification regarding the Newsday articles.  If you wish to view it, you may go to http://www.commack.k12.ny.us/communitynews/communitynotice.asp.

Question: Is there any worry that voters will in a sense punish the district for the double-dipping? Do you feel voters understand it shouldn't have a bearing on the budget itself?

Answer: We hope that our efforts to explain the current state of the law will cause our voters to direct their concerns towards our legislators to reform the pension system.  We hope that our educational efforts will prevent voters from voting "no" on the false premise that the Board of Education is responsible for the so-called “double-dipping.”  I think we have made great strides in overcoming Newsday's misinformation. Although the message in the media has been disturbing and confusing, it is our hope that our residents are mindful of our impeccable reputation for fiscal prudence. We are optimistic that Commack residents will recognize our outstanding academic achievements as well as our modest 2.21% tax levy increase.  If you would like the details of our budget, our academic achievements, and our low expenditure per pupil, please view our budget flyer at the above website.

For all the accurate information concerning the May 20 Budget Vote, please click here.