Cianci’s Former Fire Chief Now Earns Pension of Nearly $200,000 Annually

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Kate Nagle, GoLocal Contributor

The top municipal pension in Providence, at $196,813.08 as of the most recent year, goes to former Providence Mayor -- and now Mayoral candidate -- Buddy Cianci's former firefighter chief Gil McLaughlin, who retired in 1991.

A GoLocalProv investigation into the top municipal pensions in the City of Providence showed that last year, the City of Providence paid over $5.5. million to the top 50 retirees in the state -- with over 30 taking in over six figures.

SLIDES: See Providence's Top Pensions BELOW

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Looking at the math,  WPRI's Ted Nesi pointed out last year -- following Providence's pension settlement last year --  that McLaughlin's pension came from "more than a decade of 6% compounded annual increases."

"While the settlement will prevent McLaughlin’s pension from reaching $800,000 if he lives to be 100, he’ll never get less than $196,800, either – and that’s still a very expensive payout, which illustrates why 85% of this year’s pension contribution – $49 million – is paying for pensions earned long ago, not this year," Nesi wrote.

GoLocal's Stephen Beale wrote in 2011 that the top pension earners retired under Cianci and former Mayor Joseph Paolino's tenures -- but the former Mayors pointed to the General Assembly for their existence.

"Not so fast, said former Mayors Joe Paolino and Buddy Cianci, who served in office in the years in which disability pensions reached their peak," wrote Beale.  "You can’t hang that on me or Paolino,' Cianci told GoLocalProv. “You got to hang that on the Legislature. We fought it tooth and nail.”

Looking Ahead?

On Wednesday, GoLocal asked political pundits and candidates what they saw as the major issues facing the City's pension system at this time - and spoke afterwards to get reactions on the municipal pensions closing in on the $200K mark. 

While the city recently eliminated the 5% and 6% compound COLAs, the current top level pensions still remain at amount exceeding the underlying salary -- and well above the average income of Rhode Islanders.

"These type of pension giveaways, which began long ago as political favors and have continued to the present day, have driven the city to the brink of bankruptcy, and have to be rolled back, through negotiation or receivership (a structure bankruptcy)," said Republican candidate for Mayor of Providence Dr. Daniel Harrop.  "The Cianci administration gave away 6% raised to pensions yearly, disguised as "cost of living increases," even when the cost of living adjustments should have been 1-2% to keep pace with inflation (like Social Security gives).

Harrop said he believed that municipal pensions needed to be reigned in.  "[Pensions] should not go above 80% of their final salary, adjusted over the years for real cost-of-living inflation purposes (equivalent to what Social Security gives)," said Harrop.

State Representative John Lombardi, who served on the Providence City Council and as acting Mayor for one year -- said that he hoped addressing the pension question wouldn't come down to the "B" word.

"The only way the city could address these existing pensions is using the "B" word," said Lombardi, referring to bankruptcy.  "And I'm not a fan of the B word. I think it sets the stage for the entire state, and that it would have a major impact bonding wise, business wise."

As for change, Lombard said, "It's going to take someone with Herculean fortitude.  Ultimately, I believe however it will need to be adjudicated, and the [state] Supreme Court is going to have to weigh in on this."

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Related Slideshow: Top Providence Pensions

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