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$86,810 pension supplements $112,905 salary

July 27, 2020

 

As reported in the July 14 Lansing State Journal, former Lansing police captain Thomas Fabus has taken a job with the state Attorney General's office. He will be Chief of Investigations at a salary of $112,905. Fabus retired from the Lansing Police Department effective March 14 of this year with a $86,810 pension. Age at retirement was 48. He had 25 years of service, the minimum required for retirement if under age 55. Included in that 25 years was 6 months of purchased service.

 

Fabus served on the Police & Fire Retirement Board for at least 10 years, right up until he retired.

 

In the Freedom of Information Act request I sent to the City Attorney's Office, I asked for his straight life pension amount. The grant letter says the total pension amount is $86,810, but does not say it is the straight life pension amount. The actual pension amount can be less than the straight life pension amount; it might be reduced to pay for a survivor benefit. If $86,810 really is the straight life amount - we don't know because the City refuses to provide documentation - Fabus' final average compensation (FAC) was $108,513. That can be calculated by dividing the pension by (25 x .032). The 25 is years of service and 3.2% is the pension multiplier for police hired before August 1, 2014. FAC is the average for the employee's 24 highest consecutive months of credited service. Pension is calculated as service x FAC x 3.2%.

 

I've added him to my ongoing list of retired Lansing police and firefighters who have gone on to new careers.

  1. Mark Alley, Lansing's former chief of police, retired in March of 2010 to take a job as senior director of risk management for Emergent BioSolutions Inc. in Lansing. His title now is Vice President of Global Protective Services and Public Affairs. We don't know his new salary, but we do know that his pension from the City is $90,356. Alley retired at age 48. He had only 24 years and one month of service, so he purchased another 11 months at a cost of $107,812.

  2. Police Lieutenant Bruce Ferguson retired in 2010 at age 50 with a $66,507 pension. In January 2013, he became chief of police for the City of DeWitt at a salary of $65,000. (Lansing State Journal, 1/26/2013)

  3. David Ford and Walter Holden retired from the Fire Department in June 2010 to run First Due Fire Supply in Mason - established April 2007. Ford's pension is $70,356 and Holden's is $62,288. Employees also include Lansing firefighter Chris Wheeler and duty disability retiree Dan Hamel (retired 7/20/2010, pension $45,560). Ford and Holden later sold the company to Hamel and are "working on some other ventures."

  4. Tom Cochran retired as Lansing's fire chief in January, 2012 at age 58. He receives a pension of approximately $77,000. After retirement, he served as state representative for six years at a salary of $71,685.

  5. Lansing police captain Ray Hall retired in February 2012 at age 49 to take a job with University of Michigan-Flint as chief of police. According to this response to my FOIA request, his new salary is $103,000. His City of Lansing pension is $73,178. He was 16 months shy of the 25 years needed to qualify for a pension, so he purchased 16 months.

  6. In July 2013, former Lansing police chief Teresa Szymanski landed a job as the Lansing School District's chief operations officer. She retired from the Lansing police force on April 19, 2013 at age 50, with 26 years of service. Her salary on her new job is $120,000. Her annual pension from Lansing's Police and Fire Retirement System is about $90,000, based on what her predecessor Mark Alley got when he retired in March 2010.

  7. In February 2014, Lieutenant Noel Garcia retired from the Lansing Police Department after 24 years (LSJ, 2/28/2014). He immediately took a job as law enforcement instructor for the Lansing Area School District at a salary of $62,631. His pension is approximately $60,000.

  8. In November 2014, at age 45, assistant fire chief Trent Atkins accepted the new position of Emergency Operations Manager at the Board of Water and Light. His salary was $130,000. He was 9 months short of the 25 years needed to qualify for a City of Lansing pension, so he purchased them. His pension will be "around $70,000." (LSJ, 11/25/14) He resigned from the BWL just recently, saying "he has offers to do consulting work and wants to spend more time with his family." (LSJ, 5/20/17)

  9. Daniel Oberst was chief of training for the Fire Department when retired on April 18, 2015 at age 54. His pension is about $79,000. After retirement, he took a job as fire chief for Bath Township, where his salary was $61,675. He left that job when his contract expired.

  10. Detective Teresa Eisfelder retired 3/20/2012 at age 46 with a duty disability. She now works for the U.S. Marshalls in Georgia as a federal court security officer. Her pension is $64,936 (LSJ, 8/10/17).

  11. Police officer Robert Merritt retired 5/16/2015 at age 48. His pension is $53,533. On 5/18/2015, he was hired on contract by LPD to serve as Public Information Director. His salary is $65,018.

  12. Michael Hamel was Assistant Fire Chief for the City of Lansing when he retired in August of 2016 at the age of 50. After 2 years at the Lansing Board of Water and Light, he was hired as Fire Chief for Meridian Township. His salary is $92,716 and his City of Lansing pension is $72,662.49.

  13. Lansing police chief Michael Yankowski retired August 15, 2019 at the age of 46. He purchased a month of service to bring his total to 25 years. In November, he took a job as Assistant Director of Institutional Ethics and Compliance in MSU's new Office of Audit, Risk and Compliance at a salary of $125,000. His City of Lansing pension is $105,591.78.

  14. Police captain Thomas Fabus retired March 14, 2020 with a $86,810 pension. As reported in the Lansing State Journal, he has taken a job with the state Attorney General as Chief of Investigations. His salary is $112,905.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

 

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