Retirement is a loosely defined term for many Silicon Valley civil servants, who as young as age 50 can begin drawing their pensions even while performing other lucrative jobs on the taxpayer dime.

Newly retired Santa Clara County Fire Chief Kenneth Waldvogel becomes the latest example next week, when he returns to work as a contractor, earning up to $108,480 for the next six months — on top of his $200,000 annual state pension — while the county searches for his replacement.

He joins five other retired Santa Clara County officials who have recently been hired back and are benefiting from a practice critics call “double-dipping.” Meanwhile, the fire chief in the city of Santa Clara has been working under such an arrangement since 2004, when he retired at 53, then immediately returned to his old job, where he continues as a part-timer earning $100 an hour.

Proponents of such contracts argue that taxpayers are getting a good deal. “Retired” public servants provide expertise and leadership, and their terms of employment can be cheaper for local governments because their compensation often doesn’t involve health care or other benefits.

But critics call the practice a squandering of public funds as California wallows under a $25.4 billion budget shortfall. Generous pension programs are forcing some cash-starved government agencies to slash services — and leading to calls to overhaul a public-sector perk that’s far richer than most people’s retirement packages.

“Nobody should be gaming the system,” said Kristy Sermersheim, chief elected officer of SEIU Local 521, which represents many rank-and-file employees in local governments.

In an e-mailed statement, Sermersheim said double-dipping arrangements for high-level managers “damage the integrity of the retirement security that front-line workers rely on.” She said the average retired public-sector employee earns $2,000 a month.

Yet many earn far more. In California, government employees can receive pensions worth as much as 90 percent of their top salary, depending on how long they worked and where.

And many choose to augment those pensions with new jobs. Santa Clara County employees drawing both pensions and new public-sector salaries include Ed Flores, who retired as the chief of corrections at age 57 but stayed for two additional months to assist with the transition to a new chief at a $90.54 hourly rate.

Former county Finance Director John Guthrie, who retired at age 65 in the middle of 2010, returned at a rate of $124.50 per hour to advise County Executive Jeff Smith on his in-house Center for Leadership and Transformation. His and Flores’ contracts expire today.

Robin Roche, who retired as director of Ambulatory and Community Health Services at age 64, will earn an hourly $225 through the end of March to help Smith manage health and hospital system projects.

In addition, two retired employees in the county assessor’s office were rehired at hourly rates of $65 and $77.21, which they receive on top of state pensions.

Courtesy of taxpayers

Most of those pensions come straight from taxpayers; Santa Clara County employees have been required to contribute only 3.9 percent of their salaries to the state pension fund, though that percentage will increase to 5 percent next month for managers. The county’s public safety workers aren’t required to pony up any of their own money, although managers in those departments also will have to kick in 5 percent starting Jan. 24.

The situation is similar in San Jose. According to a 2009 Mercury News analysis of pension data, 256 retired police officers and firefighters and 34 other former city workers earned more than $100,000 in the city-run retirement plan, which employees can tap into in their early to mid-50s. As of June, employees now contribute 10 to 15 percent of their salaries to the pension fund; the city matches 29 to 44 percent, which is much more generous than most private-sector retirement plans.

Like the state retirement system, known as CalPERS, the city’s retirement plan does not restrict beneficiaries from assuming other jobs.

So the city’s most recently retired police chief, Rob Davis, left in October at age 53 with the option of drawing on a $215,000 pension. His predecessor, William Lansdowne, left in 2003 with an annual pension of $169,278, which has grown with cost-of-living increases to more than $200,000 a year. Lansdowne is now chief of police in San Diego, where he earns a $172,928 salary on top of his San Jose pension.

Lansdowne’s predecessor, former chief Lou Cobarruviaz, retired in 1998 with a pension topping $150,000 and is now chief in Redwood City, where in 2009 he earned $193,000.

San Jose’s former fire chief took a similar path. Dale Foster, who retired as acting chief in 2005, is now the Gilroy fire chief, drawing on a pension that was more than $160,000 in 2009. Foster earns a $158,000 salary on top of his San Jose retirement benefit, though he now has to pay into CalPERS, reducing his take-home pay by 9 percent.

LeeAnn McPhillips, Gilroy’s human resources director, said Foster was the most qualified candidate. “We didn’t consider what his situation with San Jose was,” she said. “We were just trying to find the best fire chief to serve our community.”

Million dollars saved?

Then there’s Phil Kleinheinz, who has been fire chief in Santa Clara since his “retirement” from the same position six years ago. His part-time salary and his pension total about $260,000.

Kleinheinz retired after maxing out on his pension benefits, which meant he could essentially earn the same amount without working. But after more than 30 years of public service, he said he was not interested in lying around for the rest of his life.

“I can understand why some people would feel that this is a person working and getting two salaries,” Kleinheinz said. But his reasoning is simple: The pension is money earned from prior service, and his current pay is for the hours he’s still working. Both are his due.

Kleinheinz also points out that the city doesn’t have to pay the benefits and full-time salary a regular chief would earn.

City Manager Jennifer Sparacino estimated that so far the deal has shaved more than a million dollars from the city budget. And she noted that the chief over time paid into his retirement fund, at 9 percent of his salary. The city adds a 27 percent match for its employees.

“The arrangement has worked extremely well for the city because of his long tenure and dedication,” Sparacino said. “This is an excellent example of being creative.”

‘An incentive to retire’

County Assessor Larry Stone has hired back two retirees, but he says their cases are different from that of Kleinheinz. Stone noted that the two retirees in his office did not return to the same positions they retired from. Both were well into their 60s, and Stone said one who retired almost a decade ago still works about four months a year because of her expertise in commercial and industrial appraisals.

In fact, Stone is a critic of double-dipping, warning that unless the retirement age is raised, pension plans “will bankrupt not only California, but every city and county in the state.”

Stone, who is 69 and has 36 years of public sector employment, conceded that he, too, could be a beneficiary of the current rules.

“The problem is, there’s an incentive to retire early,” he said. “Some public employees have built up so much in pension benefits that they can’t afford to work.”

Contact Karen de Sá at 408-920-5781.