New Mexico legislators who are retired state or local employees can stack their legislative pensions on top of their other government retirement benefits.
That’s in contrast to other retired public employees, who can go back to work to enhance their state pension but they can’t get more than one.
Here’s an example to consider:
If he quit the Legislature today, Rep. Henry “Kiki” Saavedra, a retired city of Albuquerque employee, would stack an annual legislative pension of about $35,600 on top of his other annual government pension of $85,907, for a total of nearly $121,000 a year. Saavedra, a Democrat, has been a member of the House since 1977.
There are 15 other members of the House and seven senators who are collecting pensions as retired public employees and also enrolled in the legislative retirement plan. See the list on the next page.
This is probably a good point to stop and recognize the hard work of most legislators.
To compensate lawmakers, we give them only a per diem for legislative sessions and committee meetings. The daily compensation is based on a federal expense rate for Santa Fe and fluctuates from about $155 to $175, depending on the time of year.
The per diem rate is the same for a lawmaker who lives in Santa Fe and for a legislator from out of town who incurs significant lodging and meal expenses. It’s not fair, but it’s in the state Constitution.
The constitution says lawmakers can’t receive any “other compensation, perquisite or allowance.” It’s pretty clear they created the legislative retirement plan with its juicy benefits to make up for the lack of other compensation. But in a surprise to many, the state Supreme Court said some years ago it was OK.
Each lawmaker contributes $500 annually to the legislative pension plan, while taxpayers kick in about $21,429 per legislator per year. A legislator who serves 10 years and contributes a total of $5,000 will collect more than $10,000 in just the first year of retirement.
Your average retired public employee can suspend his pension and go back to work for the government to enhance his retirement pay, but there is a practical limit to how much a pension can be increased.
The Public Employees Retirement Association points out that the legislative retirement plan is a different animal from the plans for other public employees.
Legislative retirement benefits are mostly based on years of service; other public worker plans are based on employee and employer contributions, years of service and final average salary.
Dan Klein, a retired Albuquerque police officer, helped in the research of lawmakers and their public pensions. He wants the legislative retirement plan repealed or put to a statewide vote.
At right is the list of lawmakers in addition to Saavedra who collect pensions as retired educators or other public employees and their annual pension amounts. I’ve also estimated their legislative pensions if they were to retire from the Legislature today.
UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Thom Cole at tcole@abqjournal.com or 505-992-6280 in Santa Fe. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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