BOSTON -- Special pensions granted to 386 public employees in the past five years could cost state and local governments as much as $235 million.
The Boston Globe reports that the workers were allowed to invoke an obscure 1945 law to win earlier and larger pensions.
The debt-ridden Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is on the hook for $3.7 million in lifetime pension and health insurance benefits for six former employees, including three top Big Dig managers.
Executive Director Alan LeBovidge calls the situation a "thorn in our side," but says there is little the agency can do.
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael Widmer says the "sweetheart deals" should be eliminated.
The 1945 law was intended to protect longtime public employees from politically motivated firings.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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