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January 6, 2010

Retirees waiting on pension checks

Postal Service has lost state pension checks

By STEPHEN BARTLETT

PLATTSBURGH — Retiree Brad Buchanan needs to pay his bills.

But the U.S. Postal Service is having trouble finding his pension check.

"This is going on a week now," said the Malone resident, who retired from the Department of Corrections after nearly 27 years. "And this isn't my problem alone."

In fact, the U.S. Postal Service has admitted losing or misplacing thousands of pension checks.

Western New York and the Southern Tier are the most affected, though retirees statewide have reported delinquent pension checks.

"I am going to get late fees on my bills," Buchanan said. "That is my income."

The New York State Comptroller's Office issues state pension checks and plans to cut new ones for some retirees.

"What happened is, the Post Office picked up checks Dec. 30 and brought them to the regional facility to be distributed to the rest of the state," explained Emily DeSantis, a spokesperson for the Comptroller's Office.

"Somehow, after that, a number of checks became unaccounted for across the state."

She didn't know the exact number of pension checks that are missing; around 60,000 retirees statewide are mailed checks.

"This is definitely a problem with the Post Office," DeSantis said.

Buchanan feels he was given the run-around when he called looking for his check.

"I worked almost 27 years for the idea I was going to get a pension, and I paid into it," he said. "I should get my money or at least have someone explain how it happened.

"They add fees when we owe money to the state."

DeSantis said the pension checks have been sporadically arriving in some locations around the state. The Syracuse area located checks Monday, and checks should have arrived in Albany by Tuesday.

"We are asking people to wait and see if they get a check in tomorrow's mail, and if not we will reissue a check," she said Tuesday. "If we do that, we do stop payment on the original check."

Retirees who do not receive a check today should call 1-866-805-0990 or 474-7736.

The Postal Service issued a statement Tuesday saying it "will continue to work closely with the State Comptroller to resolve this matter expediently and will redouble our efforts to serve our mutual customers within the state of New York."

DeSantis pointed out that only retirees who receive paper checks were affected.

"The overwhelming majority are doing direct deposit and got their payment on time. We are encouraging all retirees to do direct deposit."

E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com

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