Question 1: How many people are on the double dippers list?

 

Our payroll and pension records show almost 275 people in Maine who double dipped last year.

 

These are all people who retired in 2023 or earlier. Some retired as early as 1991. They collectively earned $7.6 million in pension money last year.

 

But they all returned to work and started getting paid again. Their salary totaled $15.7 million last year.

 

 

Question 2:  How much are the highest earners making?

 

It’s varied. There’s some people on this list whose paycheck was only a few thousand dollars. But there’s also 29 people who made six figures in salary. And another 150 who made more than $40,000.

 

Same with the pensions. Some are just a few thousand dollars, but the highest is $102,000.

 

So when you combine the two, one person can take home a good amount of money. We found one person who retired from their job as a project manger with the Department of Transportation with a $60,000 pension and then went to work at a different state agency with a $117,000 salary.    Another retired from the City of Waterville with a $50,000 pension and is now making six figures working for the state.

 

 

Question 3: What jobs did they retire from, and where do they work now?

 

Governor Mills gets a $15,000 pension from her time as attorney general on top of her $70,000 salary.

 

135 currently work state jobs. 72 work at schools. And 65 work for local governments.

 

We only found seven people in Portland who are double dipping, and just one in Lewiston and one in Auburn. 
 

 

Question 4: There’s nothing illegal about double dipping, but why do some people have a problem with it?

 

As of last year Maine needed an extra $2.4 billion to cover all its future pension expenses, according to Truth in Accounting. Double dipping only increases that gap. Public employees contribute 8% of their paycheck into the state pension fund. But if they retire and come back to work, they’re already earning a pension, so they don’t have to contribute anything into the fund. They’re taking from it without giving anything back.

 

A few hundred people probably aren’t going to make a huge difference, but it’s still an expense that’s being pushed onto other taxpayers.

 

Gov. LePage said double dipping was “absolutely disgusting” back in 2013, and there’s been bills since then that tried to end the practice, but nothing that became law.

 

Others argue it actually saves the state money. A law from 2011 makes it so that double dippers only get paid 75% of the salary for their job and don’t get employee health insurance.