Intindola began working for the city in February 1982. He received nearly 20 years of retroactive credit under the management retirement plan, and also bought another four years of service.

Without those nearly 24 years of credit, Intindola’s pension would be about 96 percent lower.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The 2001 switch to the management retirement plan was not supposed to be costly, Intindola said. The amount the city was then paying in benefits was expected to cover most of the new plan.

But changes made after he left, including the addition of a cost of living adjustment (COLA), and a guaranteed 8 percent annual increase to DROP accounts, proved to be “a killer” — driving up annual pension costs by $2 million, Intindola said.

Radu Dodea, a Hallandale personnel official who administers the management pension plan, said he has no estimate as to how much the city will have to pay management plan participants over their lifetimes.

A city financial report from 2002 obtained by BrowardBulldog.org stated those payouts could amount to nearly $9 million. The report said the initial estimate for unfunded costs, including covering past years of service for employees, was approximately $1.7 million.

The change that Intindola said caused the city’s costs to spike occurred while Good was city manager.

Good, unlike the other ex-city managers, said he did not receive retroactive credit for years of service because he had been in the General Employees Pension Plan since the day he started in March 1985. He switched to the management plan for its superior benefits when it was approved in 2001 and transferred money he and the city previously contributed. By then he was director of public works.

It was also under Good in 2007 that the management plan was finally shutdown for new employees.

“The economy went kaput and defined pension plan costs were rising and they wanted to cut costs,” city Human Resources Director George Amiraian said.

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