BOSTON – Gov. Mitt Romney called “nuts” a request by former University of Massachusetts President William Bulger to boost his annual pension, already one of the highest in state history, by about another $30,000.

“I think the effort to take additional pension money from the taxpayers of Massachusetts is as wrongheaded as anything that President Bulger could possibly think of. It’s just nuts,” Romney said Friday.

Romney called for legislation to bar Bulger’s request, saying the move “underscores the need for a complete look at our pension system to make sure that this kind of abuse can’t happen again and doesn’t happen here.”

Bulger’s request would allow him to include his annuity and housing allowance as income when calculating his pension benefits.

If just his $309,000 salary were included, Bulger – a longtime Senate president and Democratic leader – would receive about $185,000 annually in pension payments.

If the request is granted, his salary for pension purposes would increase to about $360,000 and his annual pension would increase by about $30,000. His wife would be entitled to about two-thirds of that upon his death.

A spokesman for the University of Massachusetts has defended the request, saying the former head of the state university system simply submitted a straightforward application that lays out his total compensation, as delineated in his contract.

“Those issues are really between the individual retirees of Massachusetts and the pension board and I assume they will be taken up in the appropriate forum,” said university spokesman John Hoey.

But Romney said it’s unfair for Bulger to use what Romney called a “loophole” to try to inflate his salary and boost his pension.

“That doesn’t make any sense to me. I think it’s an abuse of the system,” Romney said. “We are going to propose that it is reformed.”

Bulger stepped down earlier this month under heavy pressure from Romney, who questioned his relationship with his fugitive mobster brother, James “Whitey” Bulger.

Bulger, who was the state Senate president for an unprecedented 17 years, has been on the state payroll for 42 years – 10 as a state representative, 25 as a senator and seven as UMass president.

Because of the length of his tenure, Bulger would be entitled to the maximum pension benefit: 80 percent of his average salary during his three highest-paid years. In an application submitted last week, Bulger chose a second option under which he would receive 60 percent of that average in return for his wife receiving a portion of his pension after his death.

Bulger’s request must be approved by the state retirement board, which is headed by state Treasurer Tim Cahill. A Cahill spokeswoman has said the board would likely vote on the request at its October meeting.

-The Associated Press