LWSC pension inquiry meets Retirement Board resistance

LYNN – Water and Sewer officials may have jumped the gun when they asked the city Retirement Board if City Councilor Peter Capano can count his $3,500 Water and Sewer Commission annual salary toward his council pay for pension calculation purposes.The Ward 6 councilor said he did not inquire about adjusting his pension, but said Water and Sewer officials sought the Retirement Board’s advice.”I don’t even collect a salary from them yet,” Capano said Tuesday.The board has rejected past Water and Sewer requests to include commissioners in the city pension system because they fail to meet a board membership requirement for members to work at least 20 hours a week, 13 consecutive weeks in a year.City employees contribute part of their salary toward their pension and, upon retirement, receive a pension based on calculations considering the amount of time they worked for the city and their age.Capano’s council colleagues chose him on June 10 to replace longtime Water and Sewer commissioner Frank Zipper. Capano said a seat on the five-member commission gives him a chance to address West Lynn flooding and sewer overflow problems.Pending approval by Gov. Deval Patrick, Capano and 10 other councilors will earn $25,000 a year under a council-originated pay raise proposal. Capano on Tuesday said he is not sure if he will add a commission salary to his council pay.”I haven’t even put in for a salary,” he said.As a councilor, Capano is already a city retirement system member, and state retirement officials, in a letter sent to the Retirement Board, indicated Water and Sewer Treasurer David Travers asked them in August if Capano’s commission pay can be counted in his pension calculations.The answer is “yes” – sort of – according to a top state retirement official. As a city retirement system member, Capano is eligible to have money taken out of his commission pay for pension purposes and the deductions “could be used in his retirement calculation,” Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission Executive Director Joseph Connarton wrote in response to a letter from Travers.Retirement Board Administrator Gary Brenner said the Water and Sewer officials routinely deduct pension contributions from commissioners’ salaries and forward the contribution payments to the Retirement Board.”We keep sending it back,” he said.Deducting contributions from Capano’s pension is different from deduction requests made by other board members, said Brenner, because Capano is a retirement system member. But Board Chairman Michael Marks said it “doesn’t make any sense” to include Capano’s commission pay into pension calculations when the board has rejected other commission pension calculations.”We’ve resisted admittance for 15 years or more. I hate to open the door – even if it is a side door or the back door. We’ve steadfastly denied their admission,” Marks said.Board attorney Scott Merrill of Boston said he will review the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission’s response to Water and Sewer.”PERAC is not always right,” he told board members Tuesday.