10:55 p.m.: The Wayne County pension board voted to delay action on the pension for Matthew Schenk until their August meeting.
It's pension day for Matthew Schenk today. He's 41.
The former top aide to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano is scheduled to apply Monday for a pension worth an estimated $1.7 million after working 8½ years in county government, according to John Wisley in the Free Press.
Under the deal, Schenk will put in about $437,000 of his own money and receive a $96,811 annual benefit guaranteed by taxpayers, along with lifetime health insurance provided by the county.
The sweetheart deal comes as a new study shows the pension system has just 45% of the money it expects to need over the next 30 years to pay promised benefits to current and retired workers.
Gary Woronchak, chairman of the Wayne County Board of Commission, says he doesn’t see anything that will stop the deal. Ficano promised it to appointees, and when he later sought to withdraw it, a court ruled the deals were binding.
