grinninfoole

A piece appeared in today's Globe, written by Stephanie Ebbert, detailing a recent ruling reducing Billy Bulger's state pension, which he apparently had attempted to pad out a bit.

The 2-to-1 decision of the Contributory Retirement Appeal Board not only dashed Bulger's hopes of counting toward his annual pension nearly $50,000 in housing allowance and annuity payments, but it also found that his $309,000 annual salary when he retired in August 2003 was inflated by merit payments and bonuses that should not count as part of his pension.

In addition, the board found that Bulger should not have been allowed to claim his car, driver, and a parking space as compensation, costs that were probably negligible in calculating his pension, but that should be corrected on principle, Heidlage said.

As a result of the ruling, Bulger's $179,148 annual pension could be trimmed to $166,664, the State Retirement Board estimated. The added payments he had requested would have boosted his pension to $208,356 a year.

Bulger's expected to appeal. How much more does anyone need in a year than $166,664???