a spike in inmate deaths on Rikers Island<\/a>, has pulled a $277,000 annual salary as DCAS commissioner. That means his three-week leave would add up to about $16,000 in pre-tax wages.<\/p>\nWhat is seen as particularly unusual about Molina\u2019s situation, observers say, is the timing.<\/p>\n
On the same day he informed DCAS employees of his resignation, Molina secured new \u201cvested separation retirement\u201d benefits from the NYPD, from which he retired more than a decade ago as a detective, police pension fund records show. It\u2019s unclear how much money Molina will earn from the new pension, but the records say his benefits will kick in Jan. 21 \u2014 the day after his DCAS salary officially lapses.<\/p>\n
A source familiar with city retirement benefits noted police pensions typically take a month to kick in after their first awarded, a timeline that lines up with Molina\u2019s situation.<\/p>\n
The records describe Molina as a \u201cuniformed member\u201d of the NYPD, but also say he was appearing before the police pension fund in his capacity as a DCAS employee. Molina hasn\u2019t served in the NYPD during his time in Adams\u2019 administration, and it\u2019s unclear when he was re-designated as a \u201cuniformed member,\u201d a title that comes with earning pension benefits.<\/p>\n
The NYPD pension fund didn\u2019t return a request for comment.<\/p>\n
In a statement provided by his office last week, Molina confirmed his retirement, but didn\u2019t answer questions about the terms of his leave or his pension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love this city and am thankful to have worked across five city agencies to serve the residents and the business community that call New York City home,\u201d his statement said.<\/p>\n
During mayoral transitions, it\u2019s typical for agency commissioners to stay on until they\u2019re asked otherwise, a standard meant to ensure continuity in government.<\/p>\n
Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec said the mayor-elect\u2019s team didn\u2019t request Molina\u2019s resignation before he announced it. The incoming mayor could have the power to rescind Molina\u2019s \u201cend of service leave\u201d arrangement.<\/p>\n
Unless Mamdani appoints someone else, Molina\u2019s top deputy, Carolina Chavez, will take over on an acting basis as the top honcho at DCAS, which handles city agency recruitment efforts and manages the municipal government\u2019s real estate portfolio.<\/p>\n
In his resignation email to staff, Molina wrote he\u2019s \u201cconfident that DCAS will play a strategic role in moving the incoming administration\u2019s agenda forward, from childcare to affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited for all of you to be a part of the next chapter in our city\u2019s history and know that I will be cheering you on \u2014 today and always,\u201d Molina wrote.<\/p>\n
With Graham Rayman\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Louis Molina is officially stepping down from his post Wednesday, but will…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":478468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,216713,44136,19039,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5257,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-478467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-department-of-citywide-administrative-services","10":"tag-louis-molina","11":"tag-mayor-adams","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nypd","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115804833310960537","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}