Warren Evans
Fox 2's M.L. Elrick notes the irony of it all.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans laments the generous pensions people got under his predecessor, Robert Ficano, and how they harm the county. Elrick reports:
Now Evans wants county commissioners to tack an extra $40 million on summer property tax bills so homeowners can help keep the pension problem from blowing a hole in the county's budget.
"We're not going to be part of the problem, we're going to be part of the solution," Evans said.
But Evans isn't telling taxpayers the whole story. Eighteen years ago, several years before Ficano was in charge, Evans himself got a pretty sweet retirement deal.
"If the question is did I take an option to get out two years earlier than I would have, absolutely I did," Evans said. "Would I fault anybody for having an opportunity to do that today or tomorrow. Absolutely I would not fault them."
Former Detroit Free Press reporter Christopher Christoff first reported about Evan's pension 10 years ago, Elrick notes, adding:
Evans was 48 when he decided to retire in 1997, after working in the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, he had become an assistant to Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara.
The only way Evans could retire before age 50 was to return to the sheriff's department, which he did, for one day.
Elrick: "What did you do on the one day with the sheriff's department? Did you actually put on a uniform and report for duty?"
Evans: "I don't even remember. But obviously it was done for the purpose of getting status in a position that I already had status in for many years, for the ability to retire."
The Detroit News called it a "cheap, but legal trick." Former Wayne County Auditor General Brendan Dunleavy, who is now a financial adviser, agrees.
