They’re young and they’re retired — more than half of the 179 MBTA employees who grabbed their pensions last year are under the age of 60, according to the agency’s latest retirement payroll.
In contrast to the transit system’s aging buses, trolleys and subway cars, these young retirees include:
• Forty-seven-year-old former deputy Chief Operating Officer Dion Stubbs, who scored one of the biggest pensions in the Class of 2014 — $78,908. That amounts to a roughly $2.4 million payout over the next 30 years.
Stubbs told the Herald he contributed “hard work and dedication” over 26 years at the MBTA: “I enjoyed working for the Authority and am proud of our many accomplishments.”
• Two bus drivers born in the 1960s: a 45-year-old with a lifetime pension of $59,525 a year and a 52-year-old now collecting $67,394 a year for life.
• A 47-year-old retired supervisor is getting $63,608 a year.
• A 33-year-old track person who is now collecting a $15,403-a-year pension.
Overall, a dozen MBTA employees who retired last year and are under the age of 60 are bringing down pensions of $60,000 or more.
The average age of the MBTA employees who retired last year was 58.
Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, called on state officials to dissolve the MBTA retirement board and bring in a receiver.
“The fact is that the condition of the MBTA’s pension system is in free-fall,” Stergios said. “To see these kinds of payouts at ages that are well below what most people consider to be retirement age is disturbing.”
While the T’s failing vehicles and infrastructure have drawn riders’ wrath this winter, Stergios said the agency’s costly pension system isn’t sustainable either.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo defended the current system and said the agency has “a good handle” on pension costs, adding that reforms are now in place to curb excesses.
“While the MBTA works hard to effectively manage its limited resources,” he said, “it is important to remember that retirement benefits are part of the cost of operating any major transit system.”
State transportation officials released the new T pension payroll after a public records request by the Herald.
The MBTA pension fund had long resisted calls to release retirement pay — even after lawmakers passed a measure in 2013 subjecting the retirement fund to public records law.
The T finally relented last year and released the pension payroll for the first time.
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