Chester’s mayor Thaddeus Kirkland asked Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor to investigate alleged police pension “spiking” in the city and was told recommendations were given many times in the past but not acted upon, writes Kathleen E. Cary for the Daily Times.

Pension spiking involves giving public sector employees large raises, bonuses or incentives to artificially inflate their compensation just before retirement so the pension would be larger.

 There is a $39.8 million deficit in the city budget next year because of past-due pension payments.

DeFoor wrote that his office knew about the problem and that 10 of his department’s past audits of Chester’s police pension plan discussed the problem and passed on recommendations to fix it.

 “In each of those audits, this Department recommended that city officials take steps to remedy the problem — but, to our understanding, no such action was ever taken,” he wrote.

The most recent audit found a city ordinance governing the police pension that provided benefits inconsistent with the state’s Third Class City Code, DeFoor wrote.

Kirkland was told to contact the county district attorney or state attorney general if he wanted a criminal investigation.

.Read more about the ongoing police pension problems in Chester at the Daily Times.