Allowing double-dipping among first responders not the answer
Recent retirees don’t fill needed front-line jobs and keep next generation from moving up
New Mexico governments face a serious staffing crisis. Many departments and agencies, including those providing life-and-death services, have vacancy rates of 30% or more. This crisis leads to tragedies in CYFD, risks of deadly riots in jails, too few folks to answer 911 calls, and long police response times. Plus delays in everything from construction inspections to MVD.
We appreciate legislators trying to fill vacancies and know they mean well. Unfortunately there is pressure by well-connected government management insiders to use “double-dipping” to avoid addressing the underlying staffing crisis. “Double-dippers” draw full retirement while also collecting full pay and benefits — usually for the same work they “retired” from. Yes, we have to try something, but experience shows double-dipping — as laid out in bills like Senate Bill 124 and House Bill 294 and others — only exacerbates staffing problems. And we know there are effective alternatives.
Double-dipping isn’t some innovative policy idea. We tried it in the 2000s. You know what happened: 50- and 60-somethings with decades of experience didn’t rush back to front-line work as the police, firefighters, corrections officers or CYFD investigators we need. Most jumped straight to desk jobs or applied for them as soon as they could. They cried “age discrimination” to the EEOC to avoid the front lines. Doubledippers won’t go to a front-line job for long and will use courts to guarantee promotions.
Meanwhile our young talent leaves the state because double pay for some ensures the next generation of New Mexicans can’t move up. And using PERA to supplement payroll for insiders means keeping wages below market values for everyone else, leading to even more vacancies.
Not only will our ability to recruit and retain new workers be crippled, but most double-dipping bills incent an exodus of our most experienced workers, too. As soon as a worker is first eligible to retire, they have every reason to leave as soon as possible to start the clock on when they can come back to collect full pay and benefits plus 100% of their “retirement” pay.
Sunsets don’t help. Management becomes top-heavy with double-dippers and claims they can’t live without them. Even if the bill sunsets, we’ll be nine years further behind market pay with even more vacancies and no plan to recruit and pay new workers, deepening our staffing crisis.
There are real solutions. The state can easily pay market rates for workers we need. For local governments who don’t have oil and gas revenue, there’s a huge state fund to help. We’ll never have a better time to stop kicking the can of hiring problems down the road.
Lift pension caps so workers stay three to four years longer.
Offer longevity pay.
Pick up more health care costs for each year of service.
Develop a higher education pipeline like the administration is doing for CYFD.
In 2022 Santa Fe gave 16% raises to police, improved workplaces and vehicles and nixed a no-beard rule. Vacancies dropped from 22% to 10%. Albuquerque raised APD salaries 15% and staffing increased.
Albuquerque Police Officer Association President Shaun Willoughby calls double-dipping “high-level management scratching each other’s backs.” We know he’s right, because we’ve been there — in 2010 the House and Senate repealed double-dipping by 65-3 and 35-6 margins. Let’s learn from our mistakes and not rely on counterproductive, gimmicky schemes. Instead, focus on solutions proven to improve staffing.