Mysterious Pension Payments

Mysterious pension payments in 2024

November 3, 2025

Unlike the previous three years, there were a lot of adjustments made to the pensions of Lansing retirees in 2024. There must be a simple explanation, but I have been unable to get one.

I know about pensions because I've obtained Lansing's payroll reports for several years, and the reports for the last 4 years have included payments to retirees. For retirees, the reports include the pension amount, an adjustment amount and the total paid. For 2021-2023, adjustments were rare, but in 2024, 1,133 of 1855 retiree records had adjustments. In several instances, there were multiple occurrences of the same amount. On July 29, I submitted a FOIA request:

This is a question for the retirement boards. I have the City payroll files for the last several years, and the last 4 include retiree payments. Unlike 2021-2023, about 2/3 of 2024 retirees have "miscellaneous" amounts. 27 of them are negative, leaving 1107 positive amounts out of a total of 1856 retiree records. Some of the amounts are repeated; for example, 40 with $1800.00, 494 with $2096.40, 392 with $4192.80. For the other years - 2021-2023 - only a small fraction of retirees have "miscellaneous" amounts. These 2024 amounts don't appear to be annual benefit amount increases - for example, $525 and $488 for P&F - because those are seen in the retiree's pension amount year over year. I would like something explaining these 2024 "miscellaneous" amounts. By the way, on the 2024 payroll file I received, the same headings are used for active employees and retirees. "Miscellaneous" may be appropriate for active employees, but does not seem to right for this payment to retirees.

The reply:

The City of Lansing has reviewed your request and determined that it is not a request for a public record as defined in MCL 15.232(i), and therefore is not a proper Freedom of Information Act Request as required by MCL 15.233(1)."

This sort of reply is common; agencies use the basic requirements of the Freedom of Information Act to avoid providing information. I've been told more than once that the Freedom of Information Act does not require a public body to answer questions. Nor does it say a public body cannot answer questions.

On August 19, I emailed Mayor Schor:

I have obtained the City payroll files for the last 4 years and they include payments to retirees. In the 2024 file, almost 2/3 of retiree records have a "miscellaneous" amount in addition to the pension amount. There were 1107 positive amounts and 26 negative amounts. You can see the retiree records here on my website. (I've renamed the "miscellaneous" column header to "Adjustment".)

This is not the case for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 files, in which less than 100 retirees have miscellaneous amounts.

Some of the miscellaneous amounts in the 2024 file are repeated; for example, there are 10 with $349.40, 40 with $1,800.00, 494 with $2,096.40, and 392 with $4,192.80.

Another 36 were over $5,000.

They don't appear to be annual benefit amount increases, because those show up in the retiree's pension amount from year-to-year.

What are these payments?

Mark Lawrence, Schor's chief of staff, replied September 22:

Hi Steve:

Thanks for your patience.

These payments are likely Medicare reimbursement and healthcare opt out payments.

My understanding is that the former City Council Internal Auditor generated that report so our Finance staff can’t speak in detail on how the information is organized.

I hope this information is helpful.

I don't know what Medicare reimbursement is, but healthcare opt out could be the answer. We know that many retirees go on to new jobs, and if they have employer-paid insurance on that job, they can opt out of the insurance paid by the City and get the premium added back to their pension. But why in 2024 and not 2021-2023?

So it is still a mystery. In the meantime, let's take a closer look. Here are lists of people with some of the repeating adjustment amounts:

Count		Amount
493		$2,096.40
391		$4,192.80
40		$1,800.00
7		$1,222.90
9		$349.40
7		$174.70

I noticed that quite a few of the retirees with $1,800 adjustments had pensions under $.03. Also, $2,096.40, the most common adjustment, is half of $4,192.80, the second most common adjustment.

When I sort all 1855 pension records by retirement date, I find that the earliest retirements - going back to 1971 - almost all have adjustments of either $2,096.40 or $4,192.80. Those adjustments continue through the most recent retirements, but occur less frequently.

Finally, here is all 1855 pension records sorted by adjustment amount, lowest to highest.

If you add up all the $2,096.40 and $4,192.80 adjustments alone, the total is $2,672,910, a sum large enough to require an explanation.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

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