Cape Coral taxpayers pay for one of the most expensive pension bonus schemes in Florida. Cape Coral spends about $2 million every year to operate its own standalone pension system so employees can receive nearly 50% higher pensions than school, county and state workers in the Florida Retirement System.
While families struggle with high property taxes and rising city water bills, City Hall quietly expanded its Deferred Retirement Option Program — DROP — pension bonus from five years ($32.8 million) to eight years ($52.4 million) — a 60% increase in 2024 — while refusing to release the pension “bonuses” — pension funds accrued while still working — by employee name.
Under Cape Coral’s system, city employees can file “retirement” paperwork, but never leave their job. For eight years they collect a full paycheck and accrue full pension payments at the same time to do the same job- while paying zero into the retirement system! City employees cash out unused days off at their final highest pay, not the original pay, taking more money from taxpayers and artificially increasing their pension bonus and annual pension! https://tripledippers.org/…