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Double Dipping in Margate not so easy anymore
• City Manager gets paid handsomely
Friday,
May 8, 2009
In a well-orchestrated move to retire with big cash – and then return to work – Margate City Manager, Frank Porcella retired from public service at the end of June 2006, only to accept the Margate City Manager position 32 days later, taking full advantage of the states Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), a legal and lucrative decision on his behalf.
Porcella retired in 2006 with a drop payment of $453,587 and a monthly pension benefit of $7,497, according to Sun-sentinel records. That same year, he was awarded $91,668 in unused vacation and sick time. Since, Porcella has been appointed Executive Director for the Margate Community Redevelopment Agency (MCRA) and has been commended for 35 years of service with the city (obviously not continuous service). He makes roughly $175,000 a year and his contract was recently renewed by city officials.
Porcella is high up on Florida’s monetary list of DROP recipients and it’s not his fault, or is it. The philosophy behind Florida’s DROP program has been argued at length: proponents say it’s perfectly legal; opponents say it bilks taxpayers. The question remains: Why would government pass a law designed to resurrect old ideals instead of seeking out fresh, new ones?
This year, a bill introduced by Sen. Mike Fasano requires DROP recipients to stay off public payrolls for at least six months -- instead of 30 days -- before returning to a DROP employer. The bill passed and takes effect July 2010. This means that, if in the future, Margate wants to call a Margate DROP employee back to work, they’ll have to wait approximately 180 days, which hopefully is enough time for that person to spend their accumulated vacation time and six pay in Monte Carlo (ninety grand buys a lot of roulette), and adequate time for city officials to advertise a position and choose from a broader spectrum of professionals. Afterall, a main tenet to the DROP program is to make room for new blood which, as history dictates, Margate may know little about.
I don’t want to get caught-up in an argument about the difference between public sector and private sector pay – or the differences in the people that choose their respective careers and why. My problem lies with the premeditation of Porcella's return to office, done in a way to secure his DROP.
Sure, there were extenuating circumstances at the time Porcella was called back to service. Margate City Manager at the time, Len Golub, had taken ill and passed away. What got my craw, though, is that Porcella was Deputy City Manager all the while Golub was ill. Why then didn’t he just continue working for the city and proudly accept a promotion to City Manager?
Because of the plan. The plan to take a big fat drop payment and return to a big fat salary. I would've done the same thing.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Welcome to Margate.
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