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‘Double dipping’ NY lawmakers ‘retire’ to collect a pension and salary at the same time
By
Jon Campbell
Published Jan 23, 2025
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Office of Assemblymember Al Taylor
By
Jon Campbell
Published Jan 23, 2025
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New York state Assemblymember Al Taylor of Harlem retired at the end of last year — which is probably news to his constituents, whom he still represents.
Taylor, a Democrat, is the latest state lawmaker to take advantage of a constitutional quirk that lets him collect his public salary and pension at the same time. All he had to do was briefly “retire” before beginning his new term, which he did by filing his papers on Dec. 31, and return to work the next day.
Taylor will now receive his $142,000 base salary as well as public retirement benefits that could exceed $75,000 annually, depending on which payment option he selected and whether he selected a beneficiary. He is one of at least 15 New York state lawmakers currently collecting a public pension and public salary, according to the state comptroller’s office. Taylor did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Double dipping,” as critics refer to it, isn't new to Albany. New York law allows retirees who return to state service to continue collecting their full pension and salary, so long as they are older than 65 or they get a waiver from the comptroller’s office.
In 1995, the state Legislature and then-Gov. George Pataki closed a loophole that allowed elected officials to double dip by “retiring” in between their terms. But it remains open for elected officials who joined the state pension system before 1995, because the state constitution prohibits pension benefits from being “diminished or impaired” after someone starts their employment.
Very few state lawmakers still qualify today. Taylor was not elected until 2018, but previously spent three decades as a legislative aide, putting him in the state pension system beginning in 1984, according to the comptroller’s office**.** At 67 years old, he is eligible to double dip.
“It’s difficult, bordering on impossible, to stop someone from double dipping in these circumstances once they are in the pension system,” said Ken Girardin, director of research for the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank.
Of the 15 double dippers, eight retired from different public jobs and began collecting their pensions before they became state lawmakers. They are not entitled to a second pension for their work as lawmakers.
Six others who “retired” while still in office are collecting their full pensions and salaries. They include Taylor and fellow Democratic Assemblymembers Vivian Cook of Queens, Deborah Glick of Manhattan and J. Gary Pretlow of Mount Vernon, as well as Republican Assemblymember David McDonough of Long Island and Sen. Joseph Griffo of the Utica area.
In the past, some of those lawmakers have defended their decisions to collect their retirement benefits while still in office.
In 2023, when a TV reporter asked Pretlow whether he has any problem with the optics of taking a pension and salary at the same time, the assemblymember replied: “Absolutely not.”
Pretlow, who now chairs the Assembly’s powerful Ways and Means Committee, told CBS 6 Albany that he retired to ensure that his wife can receive the pension benefit if he were to die. Otherwise, she would only be entitled to a one-time death payment.
“What this does is it protects her,” he said. “She gets a part of my pension. I take the minimum amount, but I want to make sure that my family is taken care of when I’m not here.”
Cook told the same reporter that she works hard for the money.
“You know what we do and you know how hard we work, OK?” she said. “And you know it’s not an eight-hour job, OK? I could get a call at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”
The last name on the list is Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny, a Republican from Brooklyn, who began collecting his pension in 2016 after resigning from office. Brook-Krasny returned to the Legislature in 2023. Since he entered state service after 1995, his pension is restricted; by law, his retirement payments are suspended each year once his salary reaches $35,000.
Girardin and the Empire Center have long advocated for moving the state away from a defined-benefit retirement system — where retirees are paid a specific monthly amount — to the 401(k)-style plans offered by most private employers. He says double dipping would not be an issue if lawmakers were simply drawing down their own retirement accounts.
“The 1995 reforms will eventually curb this practice,” he said. “But as long as you continue having a defined-benefit pension system, you're going to be dealing with this.”
Labor unions strongly disagree. They have fought to maintain guaranteed pensions for public workers, which they say are a significant draw for public employers whose salaries often fall short of the private sector's.
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new york city
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Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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