Public self-service

Payouts to departing state employees — particularly those at the top of the organizational chart — have become a scandal. And yet we will endure this regular display of taxpayer-funded largesse as long as Beacon Hill refuses do so anything about it.

The Herald reported yesterday on two college presidents who retired with golden parachutes, for no other reason than they showed up for work when they were supposed to, over a long period of time.

John “Jack” Sbrega, president of Bristol Community College, collected $131,000 to compensate for unused personal, sick and vacation time.

Daniel Asquino, president of Mount Wachusett Community College, took $265,000 in unused sick time, a total of $334,000 when unused vacation time is included.

And those weren’t even the biggest payouts last year.

We hear the same excuse every time these payouts are reported — the beneficiaries only receive what they’re entitled to receive. “People may not like the policy,” Sbrega told the Herald, “but that’s what it’s been.”

And he’s right! The employees aren’t the problem — unless they game the system (which isn’t hard) and take time off while continuing to bank “unused” days.

No, it’s the policy that’s to blame. An all-over-the-map policy that ends up enriching many of those who claim a devotion to public service.

The current policy is costing taxpayers a mint, in funds that could go toward education, or transportation, or any of the other things that Democrats who control the state’s purse strings — and its personnel policies — claim to prioritize. Overall the state paid out $77.7 million last year in total “buyouts.” The inspector general has warned lawmakers that the total liability for unused earned compensation is a staggering $558 million.

Gov. Charlie Baker has filed a bill that would restrain sick leave payouts; it has been ignored. Similar bills have gone nowhere. A powerful Democratic leader needs to first take a stand on this issue, and then take the lead.

Anyone?