Connecticut's public-sector funding of pensions continues to be an issue and a major financial concern for our state and its municipalities. Pensions have been the subject of study and reform by the state. It is against this backdrop that we urge the Legislature and the state comptroller to look for opportunities to limit double-dipping by current state employees.

Double-dipping is traditionally defined as collecting a government pension for one job while collecting a salary for continuing in the same job or starting a different government job. The ultimate double-dip occurs when one retiree collects two pensions, sometimes for essentially the same job. How can this be?

The ultimate double-dip can happen when the various state retirement systems aren't coordinated with each other. For example, a teacher or administrator in a state technical high school can retire and collect a pension from the State Employees Retirement Fund.

The same educator can then take the exact same position at a municipal high school and vest separately in the Connecticut Education Retirement System. Likewise, in the Division of Criminal Justice, the chief state's attorney and the two deputy chief state's attorneys may be able to collect two separate state retirements. As assistant state's attorneys and state's attorneys, they can be vested in the SERF. As chief and deputy chiefs, they are able to vest in the separate State's Attorney Retirement Fund. Although precluded from the traditional double-dip of collecting a pension and a salary at the same time, these prosecutors can achieve the ultimate double-dip of collecting two pensions for the same job—prosecutor—when they retire from the state.

Other states are starting to study the various aspects of the double-dip scenario. New York conducted an analysis of the number of double-dippers to assess the extent of the problem. New Hampshire has looked at setting limits on the ability to double dip. Florida has also taken some steps to limit abuses of its pension system. Connecticut should be able to ascertain how many potential future pension double-dippers exist and consider laws or regulations to eliminate this waste. We are not saying employees shouldn't get credit for their years of service. They should. We are saying that no one should get an extra benefit because they paid into two different Connecticut retirement funds.

An issue for another day is the traditional/ultimate double-dip by municipal public safety employees who become state public safety employees and vice versa. They can fully collect one 20-year hazardous duty pension, a full separate salary and ultimately a full second pension. The coordination of municipal vs. state benefits is a more complicated issue, but one which also needs to be looked into for greater fairness.

Regardless, a strong first step should be to assess the scope of the state's ultimate double-dip pension problem and join the states that have started to try to avert scandal and to fix the problem. Public officials who seek to collect two state pensions for essentially the same role should be more sensitive to public disdain and the perception of abuse. We urge the Legislature and the state comptroller to take appropriate action to end the ultimate double-dip. The governor should immediately establish a commission to study the problems of pension abuse, and develop a road map toward greater portability among all the public-sector pensions in the state.