Not the Usual NJ State Employee Benefit

On 5/19/05, I posted a discussion about my emloyment with the State of NJ, and how I, like thousands of other NJ State employees, receive no special benefits for doing our jobs. I stated that it is the minority of NJ State employees who receive special perks that make the news. Today's THE STAR LEDGER reported such a story about Robert Codey, brother of acting Governor Richard Codey, filing for a September retirement from his attorney general's post, clearing the way for him to begin collecting a $98,000.00 per year pension. The different thing about this is that Mr. Codey's pension was boosted by an unusual state government salary-sharing arrangement with Union County.
Seems that last September, an arrangement was approved by an all-Democrat Union County Freeholder Board in which Union County supplemented Codey's $93,268.00 state salary with an additional $46,731.00 for work Codey was to do in for the county. Under special pension rules for prosecutors, Codey's retirement pay is 70% of his highest 12 months earnings. (Ironically, the arrangement was done exactly 12 months prior to Codey's retirement). For regular state employees who are have 25 years of service and have reached the age of 55 (considered "full" retirement), retirement pay is less than 50% of their average highest 3 years salary.
It really does come down to who you know. As I previously stated in my 5/19/05 post, most State of NJ employees receive no special, extravagant benefits either while working or at retirement. But these few examples such as Mr. Codey, make the news, and the general public thinks these perks apply to ALL state employees. Nothing could be further from the truth.