LITTLE ROCK — Two more elected officials - the treasurers of Woodruff and Lafayette counties - confirmed Tuesday that they declared themselves retired for three months so they could begin collecting pension benefits in addition to their salaries, a practice that has drawn criticism in recent months from legislators and scrutiny from state retirement system officials.
In Woodruff County, Treasurer Marlene Hite said she took herself off the payroll from April through June of this year but continued showing up to work and performing the duties of her office.
Lafayette County Treasurer Barbara Hovarter, meanwhile, said she did stop working when she retired for the final three months of last year. She resumed office in January after she was reelected without opposition to the post.
While both officials declared themselves retired for the purposes of collecting pensions, their offices were not declared vacant, and no replacements were appointed.
“The county judge knew all about it, and I was not told that there would have to be anything done like that,” Hite said. She added that she acted on the basis of advice from the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System.
“I would have never done it if they would have told me I couldn’t have,” Hite said.
Hovarter, who is also the Lafayette County tax collector, said she also believed that she was following the rules.
“I did not feel like I was the treasurer during that time,” Hite said.
The Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System this summer began collecting information on elected officials who have retired for the purposes of collecting pensions without vacating their offices, a practice that system officials say could violate state law.
Until July 1, Arkansas Code 24-4-520 required elected officials who retire to “terminate” their employment for 90 days before returning to work in the same job. A law passed by the Legislature this year, which took effect for retirements after June 30, increased the minimum separation period to six months.
Jay Wills, the retirement system’s attorney, said any elected official who applies for retirement is told about the requirement to terminate employment. He said he hasn’t seen any evidence that officials were told that they could meet the requirement by simply taking themselves off the payrolls.
After surveying about 300 county and municipal elected officials, the system has found about 10 who Director Gail Stone has said failed to fully terminate their employment before receiving pension benefits.
By the end of this month, the system plans to void the officials’ retirements and send them notices seeking repayment of any pension benefits they have received, Stone said last week. The officials will have the option of appealing Stone’s decision to the system’s board of trustees, and after that to circuit court.
Wills declined to say Tuesday whether Hite or Hovarter are among officials who have been identified as violating the law. He cited Arkansas Code 24-4-1003, which exempts from disclosure “individual records which are kept for the purpose of compiling information for the member’s retirement or Social Security records.”
Woodruff County Judge Charles Dallas and Lafayette County Judge Frank Scroggins said Tuesday that they knew about their county treasurers’ plans for retirementbut did not tell the quorum courts in the counties.
Dallas said Hite assured him that she had spoken with representatives of the retirement system and that they had told her what to do.
“I figured if APERS told her what she needed to do, then they were handling the retirement deal,” Dallas said.
In Lafayette County, Scroggins and Hovarter said Hovarter’s chief deputy, Keesha Rose, took over her duties while Hovarter was retired for the final three months of 2008. Scroggins said he saw no problem with Hovarter’s retirement, noting that Hovarter earned her retirement and that elected county officials “do not make a lot of money.”
“I just think they’re making a mountain out of a molehill,” Scroggins said.
Hovarter, 59, said she makes $28,000 a year for her work as treasurer and collector. She said her pension is $1,600 a month.
Hite, 53, makes $30,132. She declined to disclose the amount of her pension.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported this summer that Jefferson County Assessor Larry Fratesi, who is on the retirement system’s board of trustees, retired for three months in 2004 and resumed office when his new term began the next year. Like Hovarter, Fratesi has said he did not work for the county during his retirement.
In Garland County, Treasurer Jo West Taylor, Circuit Clerk Vicki Rima and Assessor Brenda Short have confirmed that they took themselves off the payrolls for three months last year but continued to perform the duties of their offices.Desha County Assessor Gaye Brown has said she did the same thing in 2006. Desha County Circuit Clerk Skippy Leek retired at the same time as Brown, but he has not returned calls seeking comment about whether he continued to work during his retirement.
Attorney Denise Hoggard of Little Rock, who represents Hite, Fratesi, Rima, Short and West Taylor, said each of the officials acted on the basis of information received from the retirement system and each believed he was following the law.
“I don’t think that the folks that I represent intentionally did anything improper,” Hoggard said.
The questionnaires sent to the officials asked such things as whether, during their retirements, they were allowed to keep keys and cell phones, had to clean out their work areas or were allowed to sign on county bank accounts. The system also asked for quorum court minutes relating to the officials’ retirements and any documents related to their resumption of offices.
Wills said Stone is considering the responses to all the questions in deciding whether an official’s retirement should be voided.
“Each one of those things is kind of a point for or against someone,” Wills said. “You kind of have to look at the totality of the circumstances.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/23/2009