Comptroller: Fire pension boss and demote ‘dishonest’ deputy

City Comptroller Brad Lander called on a city pension board to fire its executive director and demote a deputy accused of lying to obtain a fat raise, but trustees defeated the push.

Lander, who sits on the Board of Education Retirement System, introduced a resolution last week to terminate Sanford Rich and demote Daniel Miller, who falsely claimed he’d gotten a job offer in Ohio and asked BERS to match the purported $255,000 salary. Miller also lied to investigators about getting the offer, a report alleged.

Rich granted Miller a $28,549 raise without verifying the nonexistent job offer – and without consulting the board. Rich then used Miller’s raise to plead a bigger paycheck for himself. 

“If a member of the BERS leadership lies to the Department of Investigation, how can we trust what they tell trustees, members, or the public?” Lander said in a statement to The Post.

“If the executive director refuses to hold his deputy accountable for securing personal enrichment through false statements, how can we trust either of their leadership?”

In a vote behind closed doors Tuesday, the resolution failed. Only three trustees voted in favor: Alison Hirsh, the comptroller’s rep; Seritta Scott, Schools Chancellor David Banks’ rep; and Kyle Kimball, a Con-Ed exec and recent mayoral appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy, whose 15 members all sit on BERS.

“I have lost my confidence” in Rich and Miller, Kimball said earlier in open session.

Six members voted against the resolution: two union representatives: Donald Nesbit, of DC 37 and John Maderich of Local 891; and PEP members Tazin Azad, Marjorie Dienstag, Sheree Gibson and Thomas Sheppard. Seven other PEP members abstained.

The issue is not dead, however. BERS set a special meeting for Oct. 25 solely “to continue deliberation on discipline” of Rich and Miller, a spokesman said.

Miller, 41, now collects $262,650 a year. Rich, 64, pockets $235,599. 

BERS is the smallest of five city pension systems, with more than 60,000 active and retired DOE employees, excluding teachers and other educations.