LEE COUNTY, FL  Today, TripleDippers.org released a comprehensive forensic audit of public employee leave banks and compensation rosters, revealing systemic stockpiling of taxpayer-funded time off. The analysis exposes hundreds of bureaucrats hoarding hundreds and in some cases thousands of hours of unused leave, creating an artificial financial liability that drains public resources and artificially increases public pension calculations.

“By capping banked leave at 60 hours mirroring private sector standards we not only protect public safety and ensure employees take necessary time off for mental health and quality family responsibilities, but we also unlock the millions needed to deliver meaningful property tax cuts to our residents,” concluded Dave Jaye, Chairman of the Lee County Taxpayers Association and Lead Researcher at https://tripledippers.org/ Tripledippers.org has been documenting and exposing Florida politician and bureaucrat pension bonus abuses since 2018. See the 2025 Lee County Government Pension Bonuses abuses at: https://tripledippers.org/fl-lee-county-2025-report/   and https://tripledippers.org/triple-dippers-hall-of-shame/

“This taxpayer burden is compounded by a stark economic disparity: 85% of private-sector workers and taxpayers do not have a traditional pension, yet taxpayers are forced to pay guaranteed public employee pension bonuses and life-long pensions,” said Dave Jaye. To protect hardworking taxpayers and restore government accountability, Tripledippers.org is proposing two critical fiscal reforms:

*Enforce a strict 60-hour cap on banked leave, aligning government operations with modern private-sector standards.

*Mandate that all banked leave be paid out at the salary rate in effect when the hours were earned, eliminating the outrageous taxpayer rip-off of cashing out accumulated time at inflated final-year salaries.

The Problem: Multi-Thousand-Hour Stockpiles and Pension Spiking

In the private sector, companies enforce strict use-it-or-lose-it policies or modest carryover limits (typically 40 to 80 hours) to encourage work-life balance and control corporate liabilities. In stark contrast, local government records reveal extreme hoarding across Lee County departments.

Across Lee County’s 3,036 employees, the total accumulated liability of banked leave reaches an astounding $46,456,619. Among them, 255 employees have hoarded over 1,000 hours of paid time off, and 32 employees have accumulated over a full year (more than 2,080 hours) of unused days off.

The following “Dirty Dozen” list exposes Lee County officials and employees hoarding over a year’s worth of banked days off at public expense:

“Allowing bureaucrats and politicians to cash out these massive reserves at their peak career salaries rather than the wage rates when the time was actually earned artificially takes more money from taxpayers and spikes their final-year compensation. Because public pensions are calculated using these inflated terminal earnings, taxpayers are forced to fund outsized, lifetime pension payouts for retired politicians and bureaucrats, “ noted Dave Jaye.

“It is fundamentally unfair that 85% of hardworking taxpayers have no pension of their own, yet they are forced to finance guaranteed pensions, Social Security matches, and bloated leave payouts for politicians and government bureaucrats,” said Dave Jaye.

Lee County DROP Pension Bonus Participants and Leave Hoarding

The fiscal abuse is compounded when examining senior officials participating in the Deferred Retirement Option Prog Save ram (DROP), where accumulated leave balances stack on top of lucrative pension bonuses. Here’s Lee County Government’s “Dirty Dozen” pension cash bonus employees, most of whom were not satisfied with a 5-year pension bonus and demanded and received an 8-year pension bonus:

The Triple Dipper Crisis

This crisis goes beyond excessive leave. “Triple Dippers” refers to Florida bureaucrats who file fake retirement paperwork to collect both a pension and a paycheck simultaneously for up to 8 years while dodging the standard 3% employee contribution to the Florida Retirement System (FRS) leaving taxpayers on the hook to pay an exorbitant 22.02% FRS contribution from property taxes.

“Cashing out unused days off at their final, highest salary is the cherry on top of a pension bonus system taxpayer rip-off,” said Jaye.

(See the statewide list of 32,259 Florida politicians and bureaucrats collecting over $9.9 billion in public pension bonuses:
https://tripledippers.org/fl-statewide-tripledippers-dec-2025/

The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) must immediately protect taxpayers, ensure public safety, and support mental health and quality family responsibilities by demanding that employees actually take their leave. Lee County policy must change to impose strict limits: capping banked leave at 40 hours for newer employees and 60 hours for senior staff, and prohibiting the artificial inflation of pension payouts through excessive leave cash-outs.

“Florida’s public pension bonus system has created a $39 billion unfunded state pension liability approximately $1,725 to be paid by every Florida resident.” 303 Florida cities, fire and special districts formed their own expensive retirement system to collect pension bonuses 50% to 80% higher than the Florida Retirement System. Eliminating Florida pension bonuses could fund property tax relief!” concluded Dave Jaye.

Stay tuned for investigative reports about the Lee County Port Authority, RSW, Lee County elected officials, the Lee County school district, fire districts, and cities at https://tripledippers.org/

Dave Jaye, Chairman Lee County Taxpayers Association & Lead Researcher, TripleDippers.org

• 488-5177 | jaye55@gmail.com | https://www.facebook.com/tripledippers

Contact: Dave Jaye, Researcher | 586-488-5177 | dave.jaye55@gmail.com