Jonathan Bandler, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon and Richard Liebson

Part one in a multi-part series

%24163 million%3A Total cost of police%2C fire and correction disability benefits and firefighter supplemental pay

%24109 million%3A Cost for police%2C correction officers

%2454 million%3A Cost for firefighters%2C plus supplemental pay

Police officers and firefighters who file injury claims in the Lower Hudson Valley often collect tax-free salaries for years while local municipalities and the state wrangle over who ultimately picks up the tab. More than 15 percent of the state's first responders end up retiring on a state-funded disability pension. That number is even higher in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, where one in four is awarded the pension after being found too badly hurt to ever work again.

The Journal News examined thousands of records from more than 70 area police and fire departments, finding that taxpayers in the three counties spent more than $163 million over the past decade to pay injured public safety employees unable to work. That's enough to cover the salaries of all police officers and firefighters in 13 local departments for 10 years.

The newspaper found that most received full pay while waiting months and even years for the New York state Comptroller's Office to decide if they should receive the state disability retirement pension. Flaws in the system allow first responders with minor injuries like sprains and twisted ankles to receive the same pension consideration as those with life-altering injuries like gunshot wounds and severe burns. Waiting for a ruling on the retirement is also a better deal financially: The injured receive 100 percent of their salaries tax-free while on disability. There is no limit — other than reaching retirement age — to how long they can stay out while waiting for a ruling from the state.

Meanwhile, if their injury retirement application is denied, they can appeal and continue to be paid without ever reporting for duty.

Interactive: Fire and police disability spending by town

The process, local officials say, has resulted in a system that creates manpower shortages, skewers work schedules, blows up overtime budgets and in some cases cuts emergency services.

"It's a crazy system," said Pleasantville Mayor Peter Scherer, whose village paid more than $2.1 million since 1999 for three officers out on disability. "If someone's out on disability, we have to pay other officers overtime (to fill the lost work hours)...

"Nobody is trying to deny a disabled employee their reasonable rights, but we're in a situation where retirement benefits for a cop getting accidental disability are so good that it's worth it for them to try to get retirement rather than go back to work," Scherer said. "What ought to be a safety net for officers injured in the line of duty, in some cases, has become a retirement goal."

Richard Zuckerman, a veteran labor lawyer who represents dozens of municipalities in police and fire disability cases, attributed the high rate of injury retirements in the Lower Hudson Valley to "a cottage industry that has grown around" filing for disability retirement.

"It has almost become an employee's expectation that this is something that he or she should do if they have any type of significant injury or illness," he said.

No one questions that police officers and firefighters hurt risking their lives should be provided for, but the statute is so loosely drawn that even benign injuries — like a Greenburgh officer hurt moving a box of paper with his foot — can collectively lead to millions in payouts.

"Falling out of a bed at the firehouse is not what (the state legislature) had in mind," said Barbara VanEpps, deputy director of the New York Conference of Mayors, which has sought reforms.

First responders in the northern suburbs generally don't face the same level of risk as those in New York City, which has the nation's largest police force. Yet the NYPD disability retirement rate is about 18 percent — lower than the roughly 24 percent rate in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam.

Most municipalities responding to a Freedom of Information Law request would not release details of how firefighters and police officers were hurt, but reports obtained by the Journal News show that injuries run the gamut:

One Tuckahoe police officer retired on disability after being nearly killed by a tractor-trailer during a routine traffic stop. A Pelham Manor fire captain suffered a permanent knee injury when he slipped on an icy roof while fighting an apartment fire. In Rye, a police officer also slipped on ice — on the steps at headquarters. A Pelham firefighter fell on the fire station floor running to answer the emergency phone.

All were entitled to the same disability benefits.

The newspaper's investigation found:

• More than a dozen municipalities have had police officers, firefighters or correction officers out on disability leave for at least five years. Of those, at least five were out for more than 15 years. Orangetown police Officer Steven Gentile has been paid more than $1.5 million since last working in 1995, despite being fired in 2004, because only retirement or a return to work can end his disability pay.

• Both police and firefighters are entitled to 100 percent pay, tax-free, while on injury leave. Firefighters can get an additional payout if they retire on disability. The supplemental, or "gap" pay, makes up the difference between their pensions and the current salary for their rank. So a firefighter who retires on disability at age 45 continues to receive his salary and subsequent pay raises as if he were still on the job. Once he reaches retirement age, the firefighter collects only his pension. Gap pay has cost local taxpayers more than $43 million since 2003.

• In Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, firefighters and police officers retired on disability at a rate of 24.3 percent since 1998, compared with 15 percent statewide. Around the state, rates ranged from 5.8 percent for police and firefighters in Syracuse to 12.7 percent for police in Nassau County, and 25.2 percent for Buffalo firefighters and police officers.

• Several local municipalities had rates higher than 30 percent, including Clarkstown, the second-highest paid police department in the state. More than four of every 10 Clarkstown police officers retiring since 1998 did so on disability.

• Injury leave can drain salary budgets. Yonkers had 242 of its 614 police officers out on disability at some point in 2012-13 — some missing a few shifts, others the whole year. The injured cops were paid a total of more than $5 million — about 9.5 percent of the budget for police salaries. In 2011, Haverstraw paid $1.26 million to police on disability leave — 13.4 percent of its salary budget. Two Pleasantville police officers out in 2012 received a combined $193,291 — more than 9 percent of the department's salary total for the year.

In Kent's 20-member police department, three officers were out at the same time between 1995 and 2008; since 2003 the town spent $1.4 million for them not to work.

"It created a lot of overtime," said Kent Police Chief Alex DiVernieri. "It prevented us from doing training. Every part of the operation is hurt."

Haverstraw has seen 60 of its 70 police officers go on disability leave since 2005, with 10 eventually retiring. Last year, 17 town officers were out at the same time. Over the past decade, Haverstraw has paid a total of $6.3 million in salaries to officers on injury leave.

"When we had 17 out, those who were left had to pick up the slack, working double shifts. It was a real strain on them," Haverstraw Police Chief Charles Miller said. "When a detective is out, the other detectives have to pick up that caseload, plus their own. That means less attention to all of the cases. We've also had to reduce our street crime unit at various times, meaning there are fewer cops on the street."

Realtor Carmen Di Biase, a former president of the Greater Haverstraw Chamber of Commerce, called the situation "appalling. It's actually obscene, and I don't think most people are even aware of it. This would never happen in the private sector. How do you hold your citizenry over a barrel like this? There's a total detachment from reality at the state level, and unfortunately, we have to pay for it."

In White Plains, the struggling economy has seen the fire department staff cut from 170 to 150 firefighters in recent years. That leaves little wiggle room when someone is injured. At full strength, the department staffs a total of nine trucks and engines, but if there are people out they still require a minimum of eight rigs.

"We're staffing to make sure we can provide a full response to fires, rescues and emergencies," said Fire Chief Richard Lyman. "If we have people out we use overtime, and it does come at a cost. Losing people to injuries affects everything we do. We're constantly balancing where we put people, with the priority being fire suppression."

Lyman said they've reduced the fire prevention unit, moved some inspection duties to fire suppression units and drastically cut public education efforts. They used to send two firefighters to every elementary school classroom.

"We can't do that any more because of staffing. Now, we drop off the educational information and the teachers do it themselves," Lyman said.

Efforts by the New York Conference of Mayors to reform the system have stalled in the face of opposition from public safety unions. NYCOM's legislative agenda is now focused on two measures: capping leave pay at two years, and restoring a short-lived standard that only qualified injuries sustained in "heightened risk" situations — fighting a fire or wrestling with a suspect rather than slipping on steps at headquarters.

"For people who really have debilitating injuries (disability leave) is a legitimate benefit for officers," said Westchester County Public Safety Commissioner George Longworth. "The problem is, the process allows for too many gray areas. The longer you let people stay out, the more likely they won't make an effort to return. At some point for them, there's a financial disincentive to return."

Tug of war

The leave provision came out in 1941, providing firefighters – and later police officers, sheriff's deputies and correction officers – with special benefits and compensation if they were injured in the line of duty because of the dangerous nature of their work.

Police and firefighters generally can retire with a taxed state pension, receiving 50 percent of their salaries after 20 years. If they retire earlier because of an on-the-job injury, they can get their pension tax-free, 50 percent for "performance of duty" injuries sustained in the normal course of their job, or 75 percent for an "accidental" injury caused by unforeseen circumstances.

Determining eligibility is a time-consuming process that extends how long municipalities pay those who are hurt, typically involving a tug-of-war with the state comptroller over whether the disabled employee should retire or return to work.

Even after a police department disbands, disability leave payments go on. Cortlandt, Putnam Valley and Nyack were paying injured officers long after their departments ceased to exist; when Ossining town police merged with Westchester County in 2011, one condition was that the town — not the county — would continue to pick up the cost of injured town officers out on leave.

"We can't just throw these guys out because they hurt themselves doing a dangerous job," said Ramapo Detective Dennis Procter, former president of the department's police union. "The problem we run into is the hearings and the courts. If Albany's not ready to go forward, they're going to delay it three, four, five six months because you're just another file. It's frustrating for the guys."

The state Comptroller's Office manages the retirement system and rules on disability pensions. Medical and work records are reviewed and applicants are examined by independent doctors whose recommendations are considered by a medical board. The state must agree that the injury is job-related and permanent.

"I can't comment on why it takes (the state) so long," said Warren Roth, a lawyer who represents local police officers and firefighters. "But I will say that the practical effect is they stay on the municipal payroll longer than they have to."

Officials at the Comptroller's Office said they have a fiscal responsibility to make the right decision on injury retirements. "The process is both thorough and rigorous, to ensure that medical evidence fully supports the determination of permanent disability," said Thomas Nitido, deputy comptroller for the New York State and Local Retirement System. "If an applicant is denied, the individual is given due process and can request further review."

But some say the process is broken.

Joe Carrier, president of the White Plains firefighters union, said the problem "boils down to the need for the state to act more quickly on disability retirement requests so that local departments can at least make plans to replace people who are permanently injured and can't come back."

"This is an issue that labor and management agree on — that the state process needs to move more expeditiously," Carrier said. "The state can absorb the costs easier than local municipalities can... the public is entitled to getting the best bang for their buck. Obviously, that's not what's happening."

Heightened risk

NYCOM has consistently complained that disability leave is draining local budgets and has strayed from its intended use: protecting public servants in the face of danger.

The tougher, heightened risk standard NYCOM supports was briefly the measure for eligibility following a 1999 state Court of Appeals ruling. But in 2003 the court clarified, saying if legislators had intended to restrict eligibility, they "easily could have and surely would have written the statute to say so."

The court clarification reversed denials of disability pay in three cases, including that of Greenburgh Police Officer David Wagman. The town initially turned him down after he hurt his back moving a box of printer paper with his foot, saying the injury occurred while he was doing civilian dispatch duties.

But Barry McGoey, president of the Yonkers fire union, questioned where the heightened risk line would be drawn, saying his members don't feign injuries. Focusing on the costs to municipalities, he said, loses sight of what injured firefighters and police officers go through.

"We have crippled, severely burned and disfigured firefighters," McGoey said. "If you ask them to go into a burning building to save someone, you want them to know that, God forbid, something happens to them, they'll be taken care of."

Staff writer Terence Corcoran contributed to this report

More in this series

A look at a Rockland County town whose police disability retirement rate is three times higher than the state average and how local governments are trying to rein in the cost of police and fire disability leave.

Holding out pays off: A 75% tax-free pension

Retirement fight leaves bitterness for Pleasantville detective

On the wrong side of the law, and still getting paid