Multiple Jobs by Public Workers Strain Pension Plan in New Jersey

The New York Times reports:

TRENTON, Aug. 31 — New Jersey officials on Thursday released the salary records of the highest-paid public employees who have multiple public jobs. State lawmakers, who are struggling to curb soaring property taxes and cut state expenditures, say that the practice of holding multiple positions — and earning more pension credits as a result — has added a huge burden to the state’s troubled pension system.


In some cases, the multiple jobs entitled employees to annual pensions worth more than $130,000.

In one instance, a lawyer in southern New Jersey earned about $186,000 a year and pension credit from 11 towns where he works as a municipal court judge.

In another case, a lawyer from the Jersey Shore earned about $287,000 annually — he is the top earner among the roughly 5,000 state employees with multiple positions — while working as a judge in eight towns.

One lawyer from Secaucus, Herbert Klitzner, earned about $227,000 as the general counsel for both North Bergen Township and the Union City school district. Mr. Klitzner, who has been a public employee for 25 years, would qualify for an annual pension of about $103,000 if he retired now.

“I didn’t create this system,” Mr. Klitzner said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “It’s part of the deal when you take this position.”

Who says you can't make a good buck in the public sector?