Philly official who took $370,000 DROP payout wants to give a little back

A Philadelphia official who took money from the DROP retirement incentive program wants to find a way to give back at least some of that payout.

Philadelphia Register of Wills Ron Donatucci said he doesn’t want to see the city lose money on his DROP retirement payout. He’s working to refund some of it.

“I’m doing an analysis right now on the interest part of it because two of the years that it was accumulated during this period were years when the city lost money,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to take the 4.5 percent interest during those years.”

Donatucci said he is also trying to work out a way to give back more than the interest difference.

“I want to give it back to the city. I said it from day one, I want to donate it to the pools for the children for the summer, libraries, I want to earmark what it’s for,” he said.

Donatucci said it’s not easy to give money back to the city because of tax implications.

“That money’s already earmarked from the IRS,” he said. “If I don’t accept it, it’s going to be shown as close to $300,000 in income to me. That will put me in a different tax category; it will affect my income, my City of Philadelphia paycheck.”

The register of wills “retired” Dec. 23, collecting nearly $370,000 in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan money. He started a new term in the job Jan. 2.

The law has been changed so newly elected officials cannot enroll in DROP, “retire” and come back to work after winning another term.