Sandra Himmel: Citrus County Schools Triple Dipper Queen

By Dave Jaye -

For the last five years, Sandra Himmel, Superintendent of Citrus Schools, was Triple Dipping: taking a $136,124 salary and $409,708 pension at the same time to do the same job and not paying 3% of salary into the Florida Retirement System like other Florida public employees. (See https://tripledippers.org) 

Himmel took the taxpayer-paid $409,708 cash pension bonus on September 30, 2021, and was supposed to retire on that date as Himmel promised in a contract with the Florida Retirement System. But the $409,708 pension cash bonus was not enough for Superintendent Sandra Himmel. Himmel petitioned for and got a special politician’s permission to continue collecting her huge $136,124 salary and avoid paying 3% of salary ($4,083 a year) into the Florida Retirement System until her current election term expires on Nov. 30, 2024. Florida taxpayers are on the hook for $36 billion in unfunded Public Employee Pension system obligations, a $1,674 liability for every man, woman and child in Florida.  

Sneaky Sandra Himmel didn’t tell voters that she signed a contract to retire on September 30, 2021, when Himmel was a candidate for Superintendent in 2020.  Sandra Himmel’s $409,708 pension cash bonus is outrageous. How many vacation homes, fancy cars, gourmet meals and vacations does one person really need?  How much of the taxpayer-paid $502,058 cash bonus, if any, will Himmel promise, in writing, to give to charity?  No private company allows such abuses.  

After retiring for the third time as Citrus School Superintendent on November 30, 2024, Sam Himmel will continue receiving over $100,000 each year in taxpayer-paid pension plus retiree healthcare.  Superintendent Himmel “found” $2.61 million in the School District’s boated budget on Nov. 17, 2021 and voted to give herself and other School employees a big pay raise. Himmel still refuses to pay the employer match of 7.65% Social Security and Medicare for substitute teachers and other substitutes. It is unethical and immoral for Superintendent Sandra Himmel to take a $502,058 cash pension bonus while refusing to pay the employer’s share of Social Security payments to substitute teachers.

U.S. News and World Report documents that only 53% of Citrus high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and only 52% for math. Only 29.1% of Citrus high school graduates are college-ready. Superintendent Sandra Himmel has failed our students, parents and employers. Himmel’s $502,058 cash pension bonus should have been spent on tutors for students. 

The average Citrus County worker earns $48,713 and must work 8.4 years to earn Triple Dipper Queen Sandra Himmel’s taxpayer-paid $409,708 pension cash bonus. Sandra Himmel’s salary of $136,124 is more than three times the average Citrus County worker’s salary.

Paying a paycheck and a pension at the same time is also crowding out money needed to improve Florida’s roads, environment and senior services and to lower taxes. Replacing these overpaid, over the hill bureaucrats and politicians like Sandra Himmel with younger, healthier, better educated young people would save 40% of public employee costs and give young people a chance to start a job, buy a house and start a family.

Contact your School Board members, State Legislators and Governor to urge a ban future Triple Dipping, require current Triple Dippers to pay 3% of salary into the Florida Pension System, limit cashing out of unused days to salary when days were earned, and prohibit politicians from breaking their contracts to resign after five years of Triple Dipping.

Dave Jaye is a Florida-based researcher. Visit his website at www.tripledippers.org