Obscene Benefits

He might be out of the book business, but the former president of the Queens Library is still getting paper. Thomas Galante, fired for alleged misuse of library money, is making $200,000 a year as a “business consultant” for the Elmont School District — atop a $248,000 taxpayerfunded pension from his Queens job.

That made him one of the top 10 beneficiaries in the New York State and Local Retirement System last year, though 4,572 other retirees also collect six-figure pensions.

The library axed Galante in 2014 over his extravagant spending, including building a private smoking deck and other “office renovations” totaling $140,000. He’d racked up $670,000 in unapproved purchases on a library credit card, city Comptroller Scott Stringer found, including $1,962 for Maroon 5 tickets.

Prosecutors never found enough evidence to file criminal charges, and the library wound up having to settle Galante’s suit for severance pay for $300,000 plus $1.2 million in court costs.

As for his sweet deal as a “business consultant” in Elmont: He’s had it for years, and because he’s a consultant, the pay doesn’t even present legal problems under state laws that supposedly ban double-dipping by public pensioners.

Nor do Elmont’s leaders seem to care about any abuses that happened right next

door in Queens. Al Harper, the district superintendent, says, “That was between him and his previous employer.”

If Elmont’s Board of Education agrees, then the state Department of Education ought to ask some tough questions — as should Elmont voters and Nassau County officials.

The rest of the state, meanwhile, really ought to start thinking about a pension system whose total unfunded liability could be close to $142 billion. Thomas Galante’s just the sordid tip of the iceberg.