15 Severance Payouts Totaling $850k and 40 Wayne County retirees make $100K or more in pensions

DETROIT (WXYZ) By: Ross Jones

Back in October, as the Wayne County severance scandal began to heat up, county commissioners wanted to know if there were any other deals in the works like Mullin’s $200,000 severance.

"Are there any other employees, appointees who have a severance package arrangement," asked commission vice-chair Alisha Bell.

Assistant Wayne County CEO Alan Helmkamp assured commissioners there were not.

"I'm not aware of, and I do not believe, that there are any other separations, severances, end of employment compensation, however you want to characterize it," he said.

Except that wasn’t true: the county had a plan to pay out even more. 7 Action News has learned that another 15 Wayne County appointees were in line for payments as high as about $80,000 just for leaving the county. Helmkamp said he didn’t tell commissioners because he didn't know about them until after October 4th.

The payments were offered to all appointees as part of a buyout program earlier this year. The county says the goal was to save money in the long-run by encouraging employees to leave back in the Spring with up to six-months salary. About 40 county employees took the original deal.
Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/15-other-severance-payouts-were-planned-by-county%2C-later-scrapped-amidst-fallout#ixzz1ft9KvRRV

Last Updated: December 07. 2011 2:52PM

Christine MacDonald/ The Detroit News - Group: 40 Wayne County retirees make $100K or more in pensions

Detroit — Forty ex-Wayne County employees retired with annual pensions of more than $100,000, according to a report released today by a national taxpayer's right group.

Among the top annual pensions to retirees: Michele Harris, $159,477; Ronald Yee, director of retirement system, $152,856; Daniel Kerber, deputy director of airport, $136,050; Sawait Kanluen, a doctor with the medical examiner's office, $130,181; William Wolfson, corporation counsel, $125,020; James Lacey, $124,010 and Veda Sharp, director of Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, $123,090

"We have found the amounts are very high," said Christina Tobin, vice president of Taxpayers United of America, which used the Freedom of Information Act to collect the pension data.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111207/METRO/112070418/Group--40-Wayne-County-retirees-make-$100K-or-more-in-pensions#ixzz1ft8nVJEI