Lansing Police, Fire Retirees Receive over 90% of Salary for 31 Years
January 4, 2012

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Lansing's police and firefighters can retire at any age after 25 years of service. As you can see from the lists below of recent police and fire retirees, many retire at age 50 or younger (retirement ages for some have not yet been obtained).

The life expectancy of a male who reaches age 50 is 81.6, which means that if a Lansing public safety worker retires at age 50, he will receive a pension for 31.6 years - 6.6 years longer than he worked. I calculated life expectancy at age 50 at this Social Security Administration site, using the current month for birth month, the 1st for birth day, and 1962 for birth year.

Defenders of early retirement for workers in professions such as law enforcement, firefighting and corrections claim that job hazards and stress shorten life spans. However, there seems to be no studies that back this contention. Lansing's actuary uses the same life expectancy tables for the Police and Fire System as for other City employees. Maybe the physical conditioning required for the job offsets the hazards.

For the 23 police retirees listed, pensions average 93.9% of salary. For the 21 fire department retirees listed, pensions average 91.3% of salary. Percentages were calculated by dividing pension totals by salary totals.

Except for the Fire Fighting Division of the Fire Department, salaries were calculated as hourly rate times 2080 (40 hours a week). For the Fire Fighting Division, salaries were calculated as hourly rate times 2799.94 (53.845 hours a week - see Work Week for Fire Fighting Division. Hourly rate comes from a list of City employees on the 2010 payroll.

Police

Name

Position

Retirement
Date

Age

Total Service

Purchased Service

FAC

Pension

Salary

Ramsey, Matthew J.

Detective

1/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

0

$68,829

$55,063

$61,194

Priebe, John P.

Detective

2/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

0

$67,289

$53,831

$61,194

Alley,  Mark

Chief

2/26/2010

 

25 y 0 m

11 m

$112,944

$90,356

$109,075

Stevens, Mary

Sergeant

3/19/2010

 

25 y 0 m

0

$77,122

$61,698

$67,184

Hudak , Jeffrey D.

Officer

5/14/2010

50 y 4 m

25 y 0 m

0

$80,603

$64,482

$57,179

Koenigsknecht, Frank

Sergeant

6/8/2010

 

28 y 7 m

0

$74,358

$59,846

$67,184

Dionise, Joseph

Sergeant

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

2 m

$83,971

$67,177

$67,184

Lindeman, Andrew J.

Sergeant

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

0

$75,182

$60,146

$63,294

Meaton, Richard T.

Detective

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

6 m

$67,283

$53,826

$61,194

Person,  Stephen

Lieutenant

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

4 m

$85,198

$68,159

$73,923

Read Jr., Vern A.

Detective

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

7 m

$70,789

$56,631

$61,194

Relyea, Steven H.

Sergeant

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

2 m

$87,283

$69,827

$67,184

Schuelke, Scott

Sergeant

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

4 m

$83,330

$66,664

$67,184

Wirth, Dennis

 Officer

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

2 m

$67,596

$54,077

$61,194

Ferguson,  Bruce

Lieutenant

6/16/2010

 

25 y 0 m

5 m

$83,133

$66,507

$73,923

Halverson, Kim A.

Detective

2/14/2011

49 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$66,975

$53,580

$61,194

Klaus, Larry S.

Lieutenant

2/14/2011

48 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$89,326

$71,461

$73,923

Barnes, William

 Officer

3/10/2011

52 y 3 m

25 y 0 m

0

$69,958

$55,966

$57,179

Blackman, David S.

 Officer

3/10/2011

48 y ?m

25 y 1 m

0

$66,083

$52,867

$57,179

Medrano Jr., Frank

Lieutenant

3/20/2011

46 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$91,386

$73,109

$73,923

Bey, Donald

 Officer

6/24/2011

55 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$63,798

$51,039

$57,179

Trost, Jay S.

Detective

8/19/2011

60 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$73,118

$58,495

$61,194

Janeski, Charles T.

Sergeant

9/15/2011

50 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$88,161

$70,529

$67,184
            Total: $1,435,336 $1,528,239

Fire

 

Name

Position

FF
Division

Retirement
Date

Age

Total Service

Purchased Service

FAC

Pension

Salary

 

James, Timothy A.

Asst. Fire Chief

 

1/29/2010

 

25 y 0 m

0

$95,974

$76,780

$97,240

 

Ness, David T.

Battalion Chief

Y

5/7/2010

 

25 y 8 m

0

$88,649

$70,919

$78,958

 

Burnett, Todd E.

Fire Captain

Y

6/14/2010

47 y 0 m

25 y 0 m

2 m

$77,266

$61,813

$68,095

 

Fulger Jr., Charles J.

ADMAST05

 

6/14/2010

 

25 y 0 m

11 m

$81,574

$65,259

$71,718

 

Ford, David R.

Battalion Chief

Y

6/21/2010

 

25 y 10 m

0

$87,945

$70,356

$78,958

 

Walsdorf, Joseph R.

Fire Captain

Y

6/21/2010

 

25 y 0 m

2 y 7 m

$79,183

$63,346

$68,095

 

Huff Jr., Orval D.

Fire Captain

Y

6/23/2010

 

25 y 0 m

2 m

$80,968

$64,774

$68,095

 

Smith, Paul M.

Battalion Chief

Y

6/23/2010

 

25 y 0 m

2 m

$86,355

$69,084

$78,958

 

Haueter, Peter L.

Battalion Chief

Y

6/26/2010

50 y 5 m

25 y 0 m

2 m

$89,187

$71,350

$78,958

 

Perrone, Daniel A.

FIRENG02

Y

6/30/2010

 

25 y 0 m

12 m

$69,382

$55,505

$60,955

 

Doerr, David B.

MATALSP4

 

6/15/2011

50 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$77,264

$61,812

$68,120

 

Kirchen, Thomas J.

FIRENG02

Y

6/15/2011

55 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$71,103

$56,883

$60,955

 

Squire, James E.

Fire Captain

Y

6/15/2011

53 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$75,302

$60,242

$68,095

 

Holden, Walter M.

Fire Captain

Y

6/16/2011

51 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$77,860

$62,288

$68,095

 

Tolbert, Jerome C.

ADMAST05

 

6/18/2011

59 y ? m

25 y 0 m

11 m

$80,574

$64,459

$71,718

 

Pulver, Lynn A.

Fire Captain

Y

6/19/2011

49 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$80,767

$64,613

$68,095

 

Christainsen, William

Battalion Chief

Y

6/24/2011

55 y ? m

25 y 8 m

0

$91,328

$73,062

$78,958

 

Peacock, Matthew A.

Battalion Chief

Y

6/30/2011

46 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$90,657

$72,526

$78,958

 

Wojtysiak, Mark

Battalion Chief

Y

6/30/2011

47 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$91,586

$73,269

$78,958

 

Miller, Dennis L.

Fire Captain

Y

7/1/2011

53 y ? m

25 y 0 m

0

$87,860

$70,288

$68,095

 

Sabon, Philip D.

Fire Marshall  

7/1/2011

49 y ? m

25 y 0 m

2 m

$95,398

$76,318

$78,478

                Total: $1,404,946

$1,538,555