20 Boston Public Pensions hit six figures

The Boston Herald reports:

Due to a gross clerical error, the Boston Retirement Board failed to report this week that 20 former city employees are raking in more than $100,000-plus in annual pensions.

The board, in responding to a Herald public records request, sliced off a digit, incorrectly listing the top earners as taking home a fraction of their allotted pensions.

“The program used to gather the pension amounts truncated the first figure of all six-figure pensions,” the retirement board stated in an e-mail to the Herald.

Basically, a “zero was cut,” said a city aide.

The error was caught by the board yesterday, and high-flying Boston golden parachutes were properly accounted for, including:

• Former Boston school Superintendent Michael Contompasis, who brings home a $139,800-a-year pension while continuing to work as a top aide to Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Contompasis, who retired last fall, serves as Menino’s director of intergovernmental affairs and is paid $65,000 annually.

Asked why Menino would hire Contompasis when he is already the city’s top pension recipient, spokeswoman Dot Joyce said: “He’s a valuable resource to the city of Boston with a lot of contacts and experience.”

• Former Police Commissioner Paul Evans, who earns an annual pension of $118,302.

• Former police superintendent Bobbie Johnson, pulling in a $133,982 pension.

• Former deputy school superintendent Juliette Johnson, with a $100,016 annual check.

Government workers sure are special.Your high taxes are their lavish retirement.