Government largesse

Many government retirees also get public paychecks

Thousands of government retirees across country return to work to collect public paychecks

DALLAS (AP) -- Double-dipping -- the well-established practice of public workers collecting government pensions and salaries at the same time -- has become a hot topic for lawmakers struggling with strained budgets.

Even as some states have begun curbing the practice, a review by The Associated Press found tens of thousands of state and public school employees drawing government salaries along with their pensions. In five states alone -- California, New York, Texas, Florida and Michigan -- at least 66,000 government retirees also receive taxpayer-funded paychecks.

One is engineer Maury Roos, who retired from the California Department of Water Resources with an annual pension of more than $113,000. He returned part-time within weeks.

Roos says he uses the extra money to go to engineering conferences and the state gets an experienced engineer.