Legal Trick, Trustee Treat

In order to take advantage of a legal loophole allowing him to significantly increase his pension, an Orange County college trustee has resigned effective today, even though he is seeking reelection Tuesday.

Coast Community College District spokeswoman Erin Cohn said Saturday that Armando R. Ruiz submitted his resignation from the board late Friday.

By retiring from the college board today -- the same day he also retires as a counselor at Irvine Valley College -- Ruiz will receive combined pensions from two jobs, estimated by officials to total about $108,000.

For his employment at Irvine Valley College in the South Coast Community College District, where he earned $107,000 a year and once served as a campus vice president, Ruiz will receive an annual pension of about $54,000.

Had Ruiz retired from the Coast Community College board on a day other than when he retired from Irvine Valley, he would have received the typical retirement pension of about $5,000 a year, based on trustees’ annual salaries of $9,800. Combined, then, Ruiz would have received two pensions totaling about $59,000 a year.

But a quirk in state law allows part-time officeholders elected before 1994 to join the state retirement system and, if he or she worked at another government agency and retired on the same day from both jobs, to receive a pension based on the highest salary from either agency as the basis for both pensions.

As a result, Ruiz will receive double his Irvine Valley College pension.

Ruiz, 61, announced May 21 that he would retire from his counseling job Oct. 31. He had been a trustee for the Coast Community College district since 1983.

Ruiz’s critics contend he chose to retire from both jobs on Oct. 31 because it was close to election day and voters would still consider him an incumbent seeking his sixth four-year term.

If reelected, Ruiz will again receive a $9,800 annual salary as trustee, in addition to the pension for having retired three days earlier.

Even though the move is not illegal, opponents think he deceived voters by not revealing what he was going to do.

Bonnie Castrey, a Huntington Beach Union High School District board trustee who is opposing Ruiz in Tuesday’s election, said, “When [Ruiz] was first confronted, he told [community members] it was none of their business. It’s unethical to put your name on a ballot as an incumbent. It’s deceptive. The right and responsible thing would have been to resign in May when he resigned from his [other position].”

Ruiz did not return calls for comment Saturday.

In September, a Coast Community College District resolution that would have chastised Ruiz failed because four trustees abstained from voting.

District trustee Jerry Patterson was the only one to vote for the resolution, which declared it unethical for a trustee who planned to retire within 90 days to run for reelection. The abstaining trustees were Ruiz, George Brown, Paul Berger and Walt Howald.

Patterson had said Ruiz announced his Irvine Valley retirement in May and knew before filing for reelection that he would not be an incumbent.

Dean Mancina, president of Coast Federation of Educators Local 1911, said Ruiz’s carefully timed resignation in order to reap the financial benefits was expected.

“What kind of example does this set for our students?” he asked.

Times staff writer Jean O. Pasco contributed to this report.