Senator Brownsberger commented for the Boston Herald on the rehiring of 70 MassDOT employees after they participated in the early retirement program.
“When you really do the math and you factor in the true value of the increased pension benefits, it works out to a $90,000 gift to each person retiring,” said state Sen. William N. Brownsberger (D-Belmont), referring to the bump-up in pension benefits that were awarded to get people to accept early retirement. He added that refilling those jobs defeated the purpose. “The savings only happens if you keep the person off the payroll. So, to the extent that people are coming back, the economics looks worse.”