The Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (NVPERS) has for years been notoriously tight-lipped about the benefits it provides its members. But no longer: the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that public pension data are public records, and now those records are online for all to explore.
The Nevada Policy Research Institute launched its database of public pension data this week on the aptly named Transparent Nevada website.
Among other findings, the data brings to light the number of workers who are “double-dipping”; in other words, employees who earn two salaries by retiring from one job and going to work for another, all while receiving their full pension benefit payments from the first job.
Glenn Cook at the Las Vegas Review Journal has more:
Let’s start with a name that might surprise you: Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie. Bet you didn’t know that anyone who is elected sheriff has to formally retire from the police force before assuming office. The sheriff has a base salary north of $140,000. But in January, he also collected a gross pension benefit of $12,904, with a net payment of $10,874. If he receives the same check every month (PERS said January checks sometimes include credits and deductions), that’s an annual pension benefit of about $155,000, for total public-sector pay of nearly $300,000.
Here’s another one: Family Court Judge Robert Teuton. The longtime prosecutor and juvenile justice official retired from the county when was appointed to the bench in 2008. As a judge, he collects an annual salary of about $160,000. In January, he also collected a gross PERS benefit of $15,325, with a net payment of $10,099. Assuming that benefit is relatively consistent throughout the year, his total annual public-sector pay is north of $300,000.
There are plenty of other recognizable figures cashing two checks these days. Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony is a retired Las Vegas police detective. His salary as a councilman is north of $75,000. His January PERS benefit was $12,249 gross, $10,218 net. He’s probably raking in more than $200,000 per year at your expense.
Andy Matthews, president of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, said the database is already paying dividends.
“The PERS payouts now available on TransparentNevada show exactly why PERS bureaucrats worked so hard to keep this secret,” he told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “The information shows — in inflated retirement payout after inflated retirement payout — what Nevadans have long suspected: Public employee pensions are exorbitant and unsustainable.”