Postmus and Retirement: Doing the Numbers

The Press Enterprise and Victorville Daily Press have been reporting that County Assessor Bill Postmus could receive a disability retirement package of $87,000 annually. (Just to remind you: Postmus is currently on medical leave from his job, and The Sun broke the story that Postmus who was in line to go to Congress has been fighting a years-long drug addiction.)

While those two papers have been reporting a much higher number, The Sun has reported a much more conservative number, about $54,000 a year. So how did we get that amount?

It turns out there are two types of disability. If a county employee can prove on-the-job disability, he can get 50 percent of his salary. If the employee can prove a disability, but cannot show it's job related, he can get 20 percent of his income plus 2 percent for each year of service after five years. It's complicated, I know.

We estimated Postmus salary is $141,000. On top of that he receives a benefits package, including a monthly cell phone and travel allowance, that totals $20,400 annually. A total of $161,400 a year.

In coming up with an estimate, we opted to calculate the disability retirement stipend assuming Postmus could not prove on-the-job disability. This resulted in the $54,000 number.

The Victorville Daily Press and Press Enterprise appear to have gone with the more sensational number of $87,000, likely calculated using the assumption that Postmus would be able to get on-the-job disability.

Still, that number may be off. Fifty percent of $161,400 is $80,700. 

Which leads to some questions: Are the PE and Daily Press aware of a different benefits package that would boost Postmus' salary to $174,000 a year? Or is the $87,000 number a typo?