NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A new study shows that over three-quarters of FDNY employees who retired last year had annual pensions that exceeded six figures.
According to the study by the Empire Center for Public Policy, forty of the 491 retirees qualified for pensions of more than $200,000 a year, with many awarded extra due to of 9/11-related disabilities.
Retired Assistant Chief James C. Hodgens, who once headed the Fire Academy was eligible to collect the largest pension at $282,476 a year.
Hodgens qualified for a disability pension, which enables uniformed officers to retire with pension payouts of at least 75 percent of their final salary instead of usual 50 percent the study adds.
The New York Post reports that those disability pensions made up 60 percent of all of the department's retirement costs last year.
Many responders are still retiring with disability pensions because of medical ailments linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, an FDNY spokesman said.
Of the department's $1.4 billion disability pensions last year, $880 million were retirement costs, which include line-of-duty death benefits to survivors.
There were 381 of approximately 500 people who retired from the FDNY in 2019, with at least 20 years of service and over 325 of them were eligible for pensions greater than $100,000 a year.
The high rate of disability pensions continues to be greatly attributed to retirees who responded to the 9/11 attacks, FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer said.
"Though 19 years have passed, that day continues to impact the health and careers of FDNY members," Dwyer said.
