Fire department given 10% more to pay 5% more of the city’s share of the cost – how does this affect the pension deficit? I think any moron could figure it out but council approved it so what does that say?

Pay Range Increases. 1) Effective the first pay period after ratification and approval, the City shall
provide a five percent (5%) General Salary Increase (GSI) to IAFF members as specified in
Exhibit B, retroactive to September 11, 2022. 2) Effective July +l, 2023, the City shall provide a five percent (5%) GS! as specified in Exhibit B.

3.10 RETIREMENT PLAN… Effective July 42, 2023, each bargaining unit member shall pay, through payroll deduction, an additional one percent (I%) of PERSable compensation in addition to previously agreed cost sharing amounts above, with employee cost share totaling five percent (5%) for Classic members and two percent (2%) for PEPRA members.

City Manager and former city council member Mark Sorensen claims, “There is no additional fiscal impact beyond what has already been budgeted.” He doesn’t want us to know how this will affect the pension deficit, and no member of council bothered to ask.

They just gave the police 20% raises, but I didn’t see any mention of higher shares. The police have already agreed to pay the additional 3%.

Here’s how these deals raise our pension debt – raising their salaries raises their pension cost, far beyond the tiny shares they are being asked to take on. Furthermore, they are not paying more, they’re only paying a portion of the city share. These agreements raise the cost without raising the payment, that’s just gas on the fire.

Sorensen knows what he’s doing, but he doesn’t care about the consequences. When he took his public salary, he drank the Kool Aid. No matter what happens to the city of Chico, no matter what happens to our “quality of life,” our property values, our kids – Sorensen still gets his money.

On a side note, I asked Staff about the ($113,000) I saw in the “city recreation” budget, and I was told I would have to fill out a public information request. We’ll see what we get there. When I did that, I saw that a lot of people have requested information about the parking kiosks, the cost, who was the consultant, etc. I’ll keep an eye on that.