Gov. Rick Scott began an all-out campaign Thursday to persuade taxpayers to buy into his agenda by releasing select pension benefit records and information on large state contracts and some employee salaries on his new website, floridahasarighttoknow.com.

Forcing state employees to contribute to their pensions is a top priority for Scott. He also wants to reduce the rates at which benefits are accrued.

Among the first records included on the site is a list of 542 pensions in Florida of at least $100,000 per year.

The names and addresses of retired state workers are confidential under state law, but the records include agencies, retirement dates and years of service, making it apparent who is on the list in most cases.

Four pension recipients who worked or still work for agencies in Manatee County are listed. They or their staff confirmed they are on Scott’s list of top pensions.

They are:

n Former Manatee Community College president Sarah Pappas, who retired in 2008 after more than 39 years of service and is currently receiving $168,769 per year.

n Former Manatee County Schools Superintendent Gene Witt, who retired in 1994 after 40 years of service and is currently receiving $124,289 per year.

n Former Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells, who currently receives $123,650 annually after serving 40 years in law enforcement. He retired in 2007, but entered the system in 2001 as part of the state’s “DROP” deferred retirement program.

n Manatee County Clerk of Court R.B. “Chips” Shore is receiving $106,249 per year for his pension benefits. Shore is drawing both a pension and his regular salary under the state’s “DROP” program.

The DROP program, designed to encourage employees to retire early, allows most public employees to begin collecting retirement checks that go into an account that draws interest and a cost-of-living allowance. They can keep working and earning a salary for up to five years.

When the five years are up, workers can collect the payment in a lump sum or transfer it to a retirement account. When they leave DROP, people are fully retired and continue receiving their monthly pension. Elected officials can participate in DROP but are not forced to retire because they are elected to office.

Pappas said Scott should be focused on pension benefit issues that allow retirees to come back into government work while still collecting their retirement benefits.

“My pension was based on a formula approved by the state of Florida that was in place for most of my 40-year career in public higher education in our state,” Pappas said in an e-mail. “I think the governor’s energy could be better spent trying to reform the practice of ‘double-dipping’ that is currently ‘legal’ but in my opinion is inappropriate and offensive.”

A 2009 law makes it harder for so-called “double-dippers” to return to work after collecting retirement checks. The law requires people to wait six months before being re-hired as a public employee.

Witt said that Scott’s move to release the 545 records was “obviously a political move, no question about it. He’s a real dandy.”

What Scott did not include in his release is that about 304,000 retirees currently receive state retirement benefits and the average pension benefit amount is $17,465, according to the Florida Retirement System.

“When I first started teaching, we all paid into retirement,” said Witt, who made $3,200 annually in 1956 when he began teaching. “Then Tallahassee decided to change it. I figured someone in Tallahassee would benefit.”

As for Scott’s proposal to have public employees contribute to their retirement, “it’s not unexpected with the state of things the way they are now,” Witt said. “The Legislature changed it and they are going to change it again. Times have changed financially, and it is a lot because of their doings.”

Manatee County’s budget currently includes paying $8.5 million into the Florida Retirement System for its 1,739 employees. The clerk’s office pays $1.1 million for its 277 employees. The sheriff’s office contributes more than $10 million into the fund.

Annual contributions from all of Manatee County’s agencies total $20.5 million.

Wells said he also contributed to the system when he began his career as a Florida state trooper 40 years ago, earning $475 a month. When pensions get debated, he added, many people forget that most public employees generally don’t earn a lot and that their pensions reflect that.

“I contributed for many, many years,” he said. “The Legislature was the one that decided for some reason that employees wouldn’t contribute. If contributions make it sustainable so that people can survive and not live in poverty because they chose to retire, then they might want to contribute again.”

But releasing the pensions of the employees who served in government for 30 to 40 years and who end up in top government positions does not reflect reality.

“When I started in law enforcement, did I ever dream my retirement would be based on being sheriff? No,” he said. “Am I glad and fortunate? Yes, I am.”

As for Scott, “his career was not in government so he’s not on the list,” Wells said.

“It was not in law enforcement, firefighting or teaching, and he’s got a lot more money than any of the 545 on the list.”