Triple Dippin’ in Collier County, FL

35 Collier County Government Employees Push for 60% Pension Bonus Increase, Say 5 Years Pension bonus Isn’t Enough

NAPLES, FL — In a shocking display of greed 35 Collier County government bureaucrats are demanding a 60% 8-year increase in their pension cash bonuses, claiming that five years of massive taxpayer-funded pension bonuses simply isn’t enough.  Visit our Hall of Shame!

John Plummer, EMT Collier County’s  Hall of Shame Triple Dipper King was not satisfied with $595,881 5 year pension bonus uses his public position to take an 8 Year $1,099,232 Pension Bonus.  While taking a Base Pay $121,658 and Yearly Benefits  $48,663 est. Plummer avoids paying the standard 3% of his salary to the Florida Retirement System shifting personal responsibly to taxpayers. After taking his $1,099,232 pension bonus, Plummer will collect a Monthly Pension $10,553!  His job, which duplicates EMS services already provided by Fire Districts, costs taxpayers twice.

 A total of 86 Collier County government employees, dubbed “Triple Dippers,” are collecting over $19 million in pension cash bonuses while continuing to earn $7.8 million in taxpayer-funded salaries for the same positions they on paper “retired” from. See https://tripledippers.org/fl-collier-county-june-2025-report/  The third dip, these Triple Dippers don’t pay the standard 3% of their salary to the Florida Retirement System shifting individual responsibility to taxpayers.

The Cherry on the Top, Collier County Triple Dippers are cashing out up to 500 unused vacation hours,  at their final highest salary, not the salary when the days were earned taking more money from taxpayers and artificially increasing the final year’s pay on which their pensions are calculated. “These Triple Dipper Public Employees are greedy. How many gourmet meals, luxury cars, and vacation homes does one person need or can even use?” asked Dave Jaye, Researcher, https://tripledippers.org/  Six months after collecting their pension bonuses, these Triple Dippers can return to their same job!

“How much if any of their taxpayer paid bonuses will Collier County Triple Dippers promise, in writing, to donate to charity?” asked Dave Jaye. The average salary for Professionals in Naples is $41,440 a  year^[1] while . Collier Citizens must work  29.87 years to earn Corporal Steven  Pulizzotto’s $1,237,999 pension cash bonus. Pulizzotto’s salary is $233,430^[2] annual benefits $93,372 est. and not paying the standard 3% of salary.

A Taxpayer Rip-off
The Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) has created a class of taxpayer-funded politician and bureaucrat elite that continues to grow. “When the Collier County Bureaucrats finally really retire, they cash out up to 500 hours of unused time at their highest pay, not the pay at which the days off were earned, artificially taking more money from taxpayers and spiking up the last year’s salary which then the pension is based on. Then these bureaucrats can return to work in just six months,” said Jaye. “This Pension Cash bonus system created $39 Billion in unfunded state pension liability, $1,725 per Florida resident!

See the full list of greedy politicians and public employees feasting on your hard-earned tax dollars here at TripleDippers.org  and at https://www.facebook.com/tripledippers

Moral, Ethical, or Legal?
“Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it moral or ethical,” said Jaye. “This is gluttony—gorging on taxpayer dollars while roads crumble and property taxes are soaring.”

Pro-Taxpayer Reforms Demanded:
1. End Triple Dipping by enforcing retirement contracts and replacing Triple Dippers with younger, healthier, more recently educated young men and women saving 40% of the Triple Dippers salary $7.8M * .4 – $3.1 Million without cutting a single job! The employer Salary match (taxpayer paid) to the FRS is for Triple Dippers is 20.02% , the Employer Regular employee match is 14.03%  and Triple Dippers pay nothing to the FRS[1].
2. Privatize County Operations and positions like the Water/Sewer System, Airport, Fleet management, IT, Secretaries, Real Estate, Legal Services, Trades, Janitors and Landscapers.

Eliminate and Localize duplicate positions—especially those overlapping with sheriff and local fire departments.
4. Require 3% pension contributions from all retirees back on payroll by reducing pay increases by the percentage difference between Pension Bonus Employer salary match (20.02%) and Employer salary match for Regular Class Employees (14.03%).
5. Cap unused day payouts at 40 hours, not 500 hours and payout at the salary level when the days were earned.
6. Create a Citizens Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) to audit waste and reform compensation practices. Post online line item budgets by Department, Government Salaries, Benefits, Pension Bonuses, Travel and Conventions all audits, contracts and grants.

Call to Action “ Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature must limit and reform this the pension bonus system and defend the interests of working taxpayers—not over overpaid, over 60-year-old bureaucrats,” Jaye said. “Collier County Commissioners, limit banked hours off to 40 hours and require cash outs to be at the salary when earned, not the final highest salary. Don’t allow cashing out of unused days off to be included in pension calculations. Accept the retirement  over-the-hill bureaucrat political insiders and give younger Floridians a chance to start careers, raise families, and buy homes thereby saving 40% of salaries $3.1 Million , without cutting one position.”

Help Expose Triple Dippers.
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Citations:

[1] https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Professional-Salary-in-Naples,FL

[2] https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/2023/10/26/collier-county-sheriffs-office-salary-database-who-makes-the-most/71145827007/

[3]https://www.myfrs.com/FRSPro_ComparePlan_Contri.htm