Another warning sign on New York’s growing pension disaster

By Post Editorial Board

The average FDNY retiree of the last 12 months will collect $120,000 a year, guaranteed for life — and a dozen will pull more than $200,000. But that’s only a corner of the city’s pension mess.

The figures come from a new Empire Center report, which notes the average FDNY pension is up 6 percent over the prior year. Current law grants them free health insurance, too.

With today’s life spans, many will haul in their booty for decades. Yet their good deal could spell disaster for the city.

Firefighters are heroes: They rush into peril to save people when everyone else is running the other way. On 9/11, 343 gave their lives.

But something’s got to give. For starters, the FDNY retirement system’s assets are just 55 percent of its long-term liabilities — and that’s by an optimistic count.

Worse, the city’s annual pension costs will hit $10 billion in two years — meaning almost $1 of every $6 in tax receipts will go for retirees. When Mike Bloomberg became mayor, total pension costs were just $1.4 billion.

Part of the mess is poor returns on pension investments. But a bigger issue is the ever-juicier benefits promised to city workers — benefits often “won” by union support for politicians.

For firefighters, the law automatically presumes that retirees’ heart and lung problems are service-related — which triggers a “disability” pension based on 75 percent of final average pay, rather than 50 percent.

Some of the “disabled” (and lots of others) rack up major overtime in their last years on the job — inflating that “final average pay” base.

And too many “disabilities” just aren’t real, as The Post has reported — witness Lt. “Johnny Lungs” McLaughlin, who got an $86,000 disability pension and then competed in marathons.

In any event, the pension squeeze will force the city to choose: Get Albany to pass serious reform fast — or cut back on things like schools, cops and . . . well, firefighters.