Posts Tagged ‘pension’
Pension Reform Panel
SDCTA Breakfast Panel: The Future of Pension Reform: What’s Next?
| Date: | Thursday, March 14, 2013 |
| Time: | 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM |
Organizer: San Diego County Taxpayers Association
Sponsor: REFORM San Diego
Panelists Include:
Carl DeMaio – Founder and Chairman of Reform San Diego
Hon. Jan Goldsmith – San Diego City Attorney
Tim Davis – Partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP
WWFD? What Would Fletcher Do?
In the back and forth over Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher’s post Let’s be honest. Let’s be truthful. And let’s be direct., Rostrafarian Steve Rider posted an honest, truthful and direct question about this “leading by example” business.
This brings up an interesting question. One can only assume that on the off chance CPR is defeated either in the ballots or courts, DeMaio will turn down a pension as mayor as he did as a Councilmember. I know for a fact that Ray Ellis and Scott Sherman have also pledged to not accept a pension. If a pension were available to you (Fletcher) as the mayor, would you accept it?
DeMaio Leads Opposition to Pay Increases for City Council
Reveals Big Pension Payouts City Politicians Receive Upon Leaving Office
During a time when the city’s infrastructure is in disrepair and library hours remain slashed, I voted against a proposed salary increase for elected officials and I applaud my council colleagues for joining me in opposition of this irresponsible recommendation.
Voting to increase Council salaries during a time when our roads are falling apart and San Diego families are struggling to make ends meet would have sent the message to San Diego Taxpayers that their elected officials have their priorities wrong.
City Attorney Validates DeMaio Pension Reform Proposal
Mayor and Council Can Legally Freeze “Pensionable Pay”
and Prevent Pension Spiking
Councilmember Carl DeMaio heralded a memorandum released by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith that confirms the City’s legal ability to implement a major pension reform proposal outlined in DeMaio’s Roadmap to Recovery Plan.
One of the major elements of DeMaio’s comprehensive pension reform package is to freeze city employees’ “pensionable pay” for five years and to change how city employees’ pensions are calculated to exclude “add-ons” or “specialty pays” and use only base salaries in the calculation of benefits.
DeMaio Unveils “Roadmap to Recovery” Plan that Balances City’s Budget and Reforms Pension System
Five Year Plan Generates Over $1 Billion in Cost Savings and Adopts New Approaches to Providing City Services
City Councilmember Carl DeMaio today unveiled a comprehensive five-year financial recovery plan that balances the city’s budget and restructures long-term city finances to eliminate the city’s structural budget deficit.
“To fix the city’s financial problems and safeguard our neighborhood services, we must embrace new approaches in city government,” noted DeMaio.
Titled the “Roadmap to Recovery,” DeMaio’s plan borrows some elements of the bankruptcy process – with the imposition of a five year mandatory spending caps, reorganizing city operations, and restructuring several significant liabilities facing the city.
Here’s the problem once again-lack of fiscal leadership and responsibility in government
Please read Logan Jenkins article in Sunday’s paper about the Vallecitos Water District Official, who when applying for this executive position, said he would not take the elevated pension, but at the end, took it.
If I apply for a job and lie about my qualifications and I am hired and my employer finds out I lied, I can be terminated (and justly so). So why should we pay an elevated pension to an employee who stated that he would not take this increased pension, but does?
DeMaio and Goldsmith to Lead Pension Reform Forum at GOP State Convention
Duo to Outline Ways to Legally Reform State and Local Pension Benefits
| What: | Special Forum for state and local officials at the California Republican Convention. |
| Who: | Councilmember Carl DeMaio
City Attorney Jan Goldsmith |
When: | August 21st, 2010 2:30pm – 4:00pm |
| Where: | Manchester Hyatt
Cunningham Room A/B/C |
Jerry Brown pension may cost him the election
The story below could cost Jerry Brown the election this November. Brown gets a lucrative state pension for his relatively short time in state government. No surprise there.
But what IS scandalous is that the state’s secrecy over such pensions. More important for Brown, he is credited with MANY more years’ state service than he seems to have earned, boosting his pension even more. This story is still developing, but Meg Whitman will surely be out with devastating ads on this soon.
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Public employees underpaid? NAHHHHH
Below is the link to a detailed rebuttal of a recent bogus study claiming that public employees are paid less than the private sector. This rebuttal was done by my friend Adam Summers with the Reason Foundation.
Of course, the opposite is true. Today most (not all) public employees are paid MORE than the private sector average, and their benefits are off the chart. And then there’s the job security thingy.
For most casual readers, this analysis is perhaps TOO detailed. A skim of the article is sufficient.
“Saturday Night Live” skit lampoons public employees
Watch it here: http://www.hulu.com/collections/435/144719
No matter how bad the show’s writing has been over the past decade or so, you know that an issue has developed widespread awareness when it’s the subject of a skit on Saturday Night Live.
I give the writers an A for accuracy regarding the list of benefits, but this kind of truth isn’t funny to most private sector citizens/taxpayers in the current economic climate. This skit is so on target that it’s almost painful to watch.
Yesterday, the Union-Tribune published a story about the City of San Diego recently increasing it’s solar permit fees by a multiple of six.
You may recall the across-the-board fee increases implemented by the City of San Diego in 2009. From the April 2, 2009 Union-Tribune story about that fee increase:
Mary Lewis, the city’s chief financial officer, said the mayor’s goal is to price the fees and permits so that they cover the city’s costs to administer programs and provide oversight, such as police or code enforcement inspections.
Todd Gloria: Out of Touch With City Finances
From Gay and Lesbian Times, March 26, 2009
http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=14290
The city will end 2009 with a small surplus of about $2 million. But out of a $3 billion budget, “that doesn’t give a lot of wiggle room, but it’s important to note that we are living within our means,” the District 3 councilmember said.
GL Times states that Pension payments are also down for the year as result of a series of reforms implemented by the city.
Gloria’s take?
“Its not because of any funny business. No one is cooking the books. It’s because the reforms that have been instituted are reducing the overall size of our debt,” Gloria said.
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