MBTA Pension Brouhaha
By Steve PoftakAugust 21st, 2007
Today’s Globe has a brutal piece on the MBTA’s pension plan and the unbelievable payouts it generates. One of the highlights is former MBTA General Manager Michael Mulhern’s payout. He retired as GM several years ago and got the proverbial soft landing as head of the T’s pension plan. At age 48, he collects a pension of $130,000 and a salary of $225,000.
The T’s plan does this because it has many of the crazy features of the other public pension systems (read more about those here) plus it has no minimum age feature, so folks can retire as soon as they get their 20 years in, even if they are in the prime of their careers.
To add insult to injury, the MBTA’s plan is unlike any other public pension system in the state and is a contractual creature of collective bargaining. So there’s no oversight or disclosure of their activities.
Before we raise the gas tax/increase tolls/raise more revenue, let’s get the T’s financial house in order.
Entry Filed under: Better Government, News
1 Comment Add your own
1. j cat | October 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
the MBTA retirement fund is very much unlike the other state retirement funds….this is so true…as you have stated.
you have conveniently omitted the fact that this fund is private, that any changes must be voted on by the members, and this fund is solvent and fully funded….
the reason this fund is in this state of solvency is because the politics of massachusetts is not allowed to steal the funds deposited as the other funds have been raided and poorly managed…
The state leaders should model the other state and municipal retirement systems to that similiar to the MBTA…..then you have a pension plan that will insure the security of its workers and provide no loss of revenue …
that along with professional management instead of political hacks running the T will never occur ……
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