The Florida Legislature passed a law intended to curb the practice of ``double-dipping,'' where employees collect retirement checks while working full-time after a 30-day hiatus. The new provision, effective July 1, requires people to leave their jobs for six months before returning.
But the recent surge in popularity of the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) by teachers, police officers, health clinic workers and others could be prompted by another piece of legislation that didn't make it into law thanks to Gov. Charlie Crist's veto pen.
As the spring legislative session ended, lawmakers voted to cut the interest rate applied to retirement benefits in the program to 3 percent from 6.5 percent. The bill also would have taken effect July 1, but Crist vetoed it. The interest rate cut could have saved the state $85 million this year, but many workers would have lost a chunk of the benefits they were promised.
``I wasn't going to get to this stage of my life and give up 3.5 percent,'' said Charlotte Neilan, 64, a Dade City teacher who applied for the program in May but withdrew her application after the veto. ``I wasn't ready to retire. But in case he didn't veto it, I wouldn't lose any money.''
Other workers entering the program down-played the effect of the interest rate cut. ``The pending legislation probably had something to do with it,'' said Walter Dix, president of the Broward Sheriff's Office union. ``It may have caused a few people to apply early. But primarily it's just your individual circumstances.''
Dix, who had previously scheduled his DROP application for May, said his department has an unusually large number of retirees because many deputies were hired around the same time.
The number of employees statewide applying for the program in May tripled compared to the same month last year, from 873 to 2,508.
The DROP program is intended to encourage people to retire early and make way for younger, less expensive workers. It allows most public employees to effectively retire and begin collecting retirement checks that go into a separate account that draws interest and a cost-of-living allowance. People can keep working and earning a salary for up to five years.
When the five years are up, workers can collect the payment in a lump sum or transfer it to a retirement account. When they leave DROP, employees are fully retired and receive a monthly pension check.
On the list of May DROP applicants are several judges, including Pinellas County Judge Walt Fullerton. A member of the bench since 1987, Fullerton will have earned more than $700,000 in benefits after he fully retires.
Fullerton said the timing of his retirement was a personal decision, and he refused comment further.
Crist's veto bolsters his support among state workers during his independent campaign for the U.S. Senate. Last year, he canceled a 2 percent salary cut for workers earning more than $45,000.
In an e-mail asking for a veto of the interest rate cut, Pinellas County Health Department accountant Don Strock wrote, ``I'm sure all state workers would be very grateful for your gesture of support.'' ``He could read between the lines on that one,'' Strock said.
Lee Logan can be reached at llogan@sptimes.com.
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