Mickey Harrington will cost Butte County $400,000

5 Jan

I get frustrated with the Butte county clerk’s website because it’s just not as good or as easy to use as the city of Chico website. It’s hard to find anything, you just have to click everything and see if it leads where you want to go. Then, if you find what you want, you have to write down how you got there so you can find it again.

One handy resource the county clerk used to have on her website was a link by which you could check to see if your mail-in ballot had been received and was ‘good”, meaning, it is going to be counted. I’ve used it in the last two elections to comfort myself that at least the damn thing got to O-ville.

You wouldn’t believe what Albert at the post office did with my Christmas packages this year – yes Felix, it was the clerk who put the wrong labels on the packages and sent them to the opposite destinations, please tell your mom I am not the incompetent here! 

You think I’m going to trust the post office with my mail-in ballot after their abysmal history at delivering my packages?  

Back to business here – it is already too late to mail your mail-in ballot. I mailed mine over a week ago, so I feel somewhat secure. Well, not really. I’m going to call Candy Grubb’s office Monday to make sure they got it. 

This election stinks. They blame Logue and even Nielsen for this run-off – why isn’t Mickey Harrington willing to wake up, smell the coffee and CONCEDE? With only 27 percent of the vote in the last election, he says this election is “doable.”  He honestly expected to get Dan Logue’s endorsement after the November election, even after Logue had endorsed Nielsen when he dropped out of the race in October.  Harringtons simple-minded refusal to accept the will of the people, to me, is a sign that this guy isn’t playing with a full deck. But of course, there’s a quality that always seems to attract the liberals like a big turd attracts flies. 

What really stinks about this election is the timing – scheduled at will by Jerry Brown, right in the days after the holidays, bad weather, school starting up soon – all three conditions that conspire toward low voter turnout. This election could have been held as late as April,  but Brown thinks Harrington’s pathetic 27% will look beefier in a rigged election. 

Try doing your homework on these two – you will find that Nielsen has spoken at length on the issues when asked by various media sources, like the Sac Bee, where Harrington’s answers are “still unavailable”.  Later, when interviewed by the Enterprise Record, Harrington said he didn’t feel there was a need for pension reform? Wow, that’s pretty gutsy of him – or crazy, whichever. 

I felt good about my vote for Jim Nielsen. The people who have criticized Nielsen to me have been completely ignorant of the real issues and Nielsen’s record on those issues. They’ve criticized him because they’ve “heard he lives in a trailer in Gerber.”

From Wikipedia: A question of residency eligibility arose during his bid for the Assembly in 2008, because Nielsen owns 2 homes, one in the district he represents and one near the capitol, which is the custom of most legislators. Nielsen won the case and even received a judgment for court costs in the amount of $7,400 against Plaintiff Don Bird. Plaintiff appealed to the Secretary of State who then deferred to the State Attorney General. After reviewing the case, the Attorney General issued a letter on December 22, 2008, stating there was no evidence to warrant further investigation and the matter was closed. The Attorney General was Jerry Brown, a Democrat and former Governor of California.

There’s the legal end of it, from 2008, but people still dredge it up, because it’s the only real criticism they have. It’s not a real issue.  I don’t think the reference has as much to do with legal residency as with the notion that only white trash hicks live in trailers, or in Gerber. That’s the kind of people that vote Harrington – people who feel uncomfortable with the lifestyle we appreciate here, and can’t come up with anything better than the cheap potshots that littered Obama’s presidential campaign. 

The good news is, from the Colusa Sun Herald, “The Tuesday runoff between Republican Assemblyman Jim Nielsen and Democrat Michael “Mickey” Harrington may not be on the forefront of the public’s consciousness, but turnout is expected to be higher than election officials first predicted.”  According to their story, Butte County had already returned 28 percent of it’s mail-in ballots by December 28, Tehama had already received 25 percent, and Colusa 30 percent. 

Thanks to all those voters who voted early and I hope the rest will either get over to the county clerk’s office today (Saturday Jan 5) or to their polling place on Tuesday. Contact me if you need a ride, and I’ll try to accommodate you or get somebody else to do so. 

UPDATE:  I called the county clerk’s office – that’s (530) 538-6366 –  and talked to a gal who gladly checked not only my ballot but my husbands – both received, and “GOOD”!  I believe they are still open today, until 5pm, and then you can get them during regular business hours Monday and Tuesday, if you’re worried. I checked because I would have felt stupid if it was a close race, not knowing whether my ballot even made it in there. 

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CTA meeting rescheduled – no First Sunday meeting this month – Second Sunday meeting instead!

4 Jan

I’m sorry to be a flake, Folks, but I will not be able to make the regularly scheduled Chico Taxpayer’s meeting, so the gang has agreed to meet Sunday after next – that’s January 13 – same time, 9am.

I’ve been wanting to talk over the unfunded pension liabilities, and our campaign to get city employees to pay their own “employee share”. We need to discuss the whole notion of who pays what regarding benefits/pensions. I believe the employees should get ready to pay more, a lot more, or get ready to give up this notion of 70-90 percent of their highest year’s salary at 50 – 55 years of age. 

A decent person would not expect others to pay these salaries and benefits, it’s just greed people. 

So, I hope to see hear some productive ideas on January 13, get a letter writing campaign going, try to get council to listen to reason. 

Plan B? There’s another election coming up in two years, and now’s the time to look for suitable replacements for Scott Gruendl and Mary Goloff. 

 

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Juanita Q. Public

2 Jan

Today, glutton for punishment that I am, I got on old Myrt my 3-speed and headed out for another meeting Downtown.  At least this meeting was at 9am instead of 8am. I won’t lie – the park is not pleasant before 9am these days, it’s brain-freezing  cold on a bike, and the trails are slicker than (my dad would say ‘shit’) banana pudding. Old Myrt has skinny little tires, and her brakes are sketchy. She’s a fine lady, unsuited to the wilderness trails, but she does alright, I’ll say. 

This meeting was the oversight board for the Successor Agency to the Chico Redevelopment Agency. You might remember, the RDA was dismembered by the state last year, cause they were spending too much money, on stuff that wasn’t appropriate. The city of Chico had  been pilfering the RDA fund for all kinds of  stuff – essentially, they were using the RDA like a credit card to pay for stuff like those GD “spirit flags” that sit in that median over on Forest Avenue.  In the end, we found out, they were paying salaries and benefits with money that is supposed to be limited to egregious cases of blight and other “emergencies.” 

Today I found out, this money, collected out of our property taxes, is being used to pay salaries Downtown.  According to one report titled “Amended Enforceable Obligation Payment Schedule”, $445,166 was spent on “RDA Housing Admin Staffing Costs,” “various employees.”   

One employee who is “100 percent paid” out of the RDA is Senior Planner and Housing and Neighborhood Services employee Shawn Tillman. Tillman is the staffer committed to the RDA Successor Agency oversight board. Because of his assignment to the oversight board, his salary (as of 2010 he was making around $93,000/year) is taken entirely out of the Successor Agency. 

Remember, the Successor Agency, like the RDA, is funded by bonds on your property taxes. That’s borrowed money, and there’s interest – I’ve heard the formula described as, for every dollar spent, we pay $3.   So, to me, this is like paying your rent and your everyday expenses on your credit card, while still spending on things like dining out and partying, giving expensive gifts, buying new clothes all the time, etc.  That’s a doomsday scenario for an individual. If your loved one or friend, even co-worker,  was spending money that way, you’d be thinking “INTERVENTION TIME!”  You certainly would not be wise to loan a person like that money – in fact, you would be “an enabler.” 

So, here we are, enabling city $taff to live high on the hog during a recession, damn the torpedoes – “we NEED these salaries!” I read an article from the city of Hemet, the town from which we stole away our lovely and vivacious $212,000 a year city manager, in which one of their police officers answered demands for a salary freeze, saying, “we have MORTGAGES!” Well, yeah, you sure do. You public employee assholes drove up the price of everybody’s mortgage with your crazy salaries. You didn’t think, “wow, is this good for the public economy?” No, you just went right out and bought that $800,000 crib that is today worth $400,000. Well, really, $250,000. I got a secret for you – it was never worth more than $100,000, you just got yourself shagged. And you screwed the housing market in our town in doing so, thankyouverymuch. You drove up the price of everything from cars to eggs and milk, daycare and other services too. 

So, excuse me Mr./Ms. Public Worker, while I get my little violin out and play a little tune for your financial problems. You created EVERYBODY’S financial problems, so suck it up. 

During the meeting, Larry Wahl asked just how many salaries, and whose, were being paid out of the SA – Tillman got up on his little ratty hindquarters here, and told Wahl that  he wasn’t required to report that!  Well, given that $445,000 a year figure, and the $93,000 figure for Tilman, we have to wonder – is Dani Brinkley, the city clerk assigned to the oversight board – also paid out of the SA? And what about their benefits? 

Today’s meeting was supposed to be a public hearing, required to be held at least five business days prior to an upcoming meeting regarding the acceptance of an audit done of the agency. I noticed I was the only member of the public in attendance, so I asked, how had they noticed this meeting? You’d think, if there’s a requirement for a public hearing, there’d be a requirement for noticing. No, said Shawn Tillman and Dani Brinkley – the SA has none of the requirement for public noticing that most government boards are held to. I’m not sure, but I think Tillman said this was a decision made by the Chico City Council. 

They don’t seem to take this “public hearing” stuff too seriously – Chair Scott Gruendl did not even show up. 

Vice-chair Trevor Stewart, of the Butte-Glenn Community College District, said “this is a regularly scheduled meeting” – so there was no need for public notice. Brinkley added that she posted a copy of the agenda by the front door of the chamber building – wow, that’s some high technology there! She says people can request to be e-mailed the agenda, no charge.  That’s DBrinkle@ci.chico.ca.us. Please e-mail Dani and request an agenda for each monthly meeting. 

They won’t take the public seriously until the public starts taking itself seriously. 

 

 

 

 

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Did you know that our city manager only makes about $20,000 less than the vice president of the United States? More than Hilary Clinton and all the other members of the cabinet?

2 Jan

A friend of mine sent me an article the other day about President Bronco Bama ordering raises in his executive salaries. He just gave Joe Biden a raise – as of March, the VP will be making $231,900 a year, up from $225,500. 

Of course, Obama takes a salary of about $400,000 – raised from around $225,000 during the George W. Bush administration. People howled about that raise, but the Bronc just walked right into it.  

My friend expected me to be outraged about these salaries – I am!  But here’s what’s really got my panties in a knot – our city manager, Brian Nakamura, demanded $212,000 to take the job here, roughly $50,000 more than his predecessor, almost as much as the Vice President of the United States, and MORE than the following individuals:

  • Hilary Clinton (currently Secty of State and third in line for the throne) – $186,600/year
  • Tim Geithner (Secty of the Treasury) – $191,300/yr
  •  Eric Holder (Attorney General) – $191,300/yr
  • Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Federal Reserve) – $199,700/yr

In fact, Nakamura is paid higher than ANY member of the president’s cabinet. To manage a town of less than 100,000 people. 

And we’re depending on Nakamura to “do something” about our budget problems? He doesn’t even pay his entire “employee share” for the pension he expects to take, 70 percent at age 55.  He only pays 4% of the “employee share.” How will we get our financial house in order with a guy like this running things? 

Write to Brian Nakamura, at bnakamura@ci.chico.ca.us and ask him to pay his own pension premium. CC the mayor – mgoloff@ci.chico.ca.us

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Maybe Linda Murphy should have “the facts” before she accuses another letter writer of mis-stating anything.

1 Jan

Here’s Ken Campbell’s response to the questions I asked him in my letter to the editor – he got somebody’s mother to call me a liar. 

Letter: Letters didn’t have the facts

Chico Enterprise-Record
Posted:   01/01/2013 12:00:00 AM PST
Two recent letters in the E-R incorrectly state facts that are not true.In one letter, the writer states the Chico Fire Department is the only city department that contributes to its own pension plan and they pay 4 percent. I don’t know if they are the only department, but I do know they already contribute 7 percent.

Secondly, it is stated the Fire Department gets paid for 56 hours a week with 16 of those hours being overtime. No, their salary is based on 56 hours of straight time worked per week. After 56 hours, they are paid overtime. An employee who works 40 hours for a $60,000 salary actually makes more money per hour than an employee who works 56 hours for that same $60,000 salary.

It would seem to me that the Chico Taxpayers Association should be calling on the city of Chico management to explain the benefit packages offered by the city to all employees, not just one department. If benefits need to be changed, it should apply to everyone.

— Linda Murphy, Chico

First of all, I never “stated facts” in  the letter – I asked questions. Ken Campbell never came back, but this woman, whose name matches a fire department staffer, comes back to put words in my mouth and  call me a liar. Not by name, of course, but she references the Chico Taxpayers Association.

Second, she says the fire department contributes 7 percent – they do not. I’ve got the figures.  I’ll cut and paste it here from the records I was sent, sorry it’s kind of a mess, but you can figure it out.

Bargaining Units Employer Rate Employee Contribution
City Payment of
Employee Contribution
Total CalPERS
Contribution (City &
Employee)
Retirement Formula EPMC

CEA 23.831% 6% 2% 31.831% 3% at 60 Yes
SEIU ‐ TC 23.831% 3% 5% 31.831% 3% at 60 Yes
WPEA 23.831% 3% 5% 31.831% 3% at 60 Yes
IAFF 31.006% 2% 7% 40.006% 3% at 50 Yes
CPOA 31.006% 0% 9% 40.006% 3% at 50 Yes
CPSA 23.831% 0% 8% 31.831% 3% at 60 Yes
MGMT 23.831% 4% 4% 31.831% 3% at 60 Yes
PSM 31.006% 0% 9% 40.006% 3% at 50 Yes
CONFID 23.831% 8% 0% 31.831% 3% at 60 Yes

Let me sort that out for Linda – the fire department “Bargaining Unit” is the IAFF, or “International Association of Fire Fighters.” The “Employer Rate” is 31.006%, the “Employee Contribution” is 2%. The “City Payment of Employee Contribution” means, the part of the “employee share” that is PAID BY THE CITY. There’s another 7 percent, paid by US! That adds up to a total contribution of 40.006 percent, on a pension that will pay 90 percent at age 50. “Yes” means, they get the “EPMC”, or “Employer Paid Member Contribution” – that’s the 7 percent paid by the city. 

So, yes, I was wrong in my letter! They don’t pay 4 percent, THEY PAY 2 PERCENT! And we, the taxpayers, pay the other 7 percent of their share, plus another 31%. And our share increases every year, according to documents I was given by city councilor  Mark Sorensen and city manager Brian Nakamura.

Linda, you need to get the facts straight before you sit down in front of your box again and call ME a liar. 

 

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Chico’s very own “fiscal cliff”

26 Dec

Today I attended the monthly Finance Committee meeting to participate in the ongoing bullshit session regarding our very own “fiscal cliff.” 

For months now committee members Scott Gruendl, Mary Goloff, and Mark Sorensen have sat through a monthly presentation regarding our tense financial future.  New City Manager Brian Nakamura has been trying to politely but firmly shove a single concept down their throats – the “unfunded pension liablity.” 

The UPL is the amount of money that we have agreed to pay our city employees in retirement, but we don’t really have it.  Our city leaders, encouraged by $taff, went along with a scheme hatched by the California Public Employees Retirement System, promising public employees 70 – 90% of their highest year’s earnings with little or no investment on their parts.

CalPERS told cities and other public entities all over California that they could pay only 14 – 18 % of the actual cost of these packages, and the rest would come rolling in from clever stock market investments. Many public entities bought onto this stupidity. It looked very good the first year or so, with 22 percent returns. But after returns like that, you can always expect the market to “correct” itself, and CalPERS has since lost millions of dollars. They’ve  been bailed out once by the state, asking the feds for a second bailout a couple of years later (I don’t know how that turned out). 

Now CalPERS is increasing our “contribution”. Over the last few years the city’s “share” of the premium has grown from about 26 % (of the cost of the package) to about 31%. That’s millions of dollars a year. And, our city council has signed contracts guaranteeing we would pay not only the “employer’s share,” but most or all of the “employee share” as well.

Today Jennifer Hennessy told me that the city pays 7% of the “non-safety” employees’ 8% share, and ALL of the “safety” employees’ share – 9%. 

I know, last month I told you, I had asked Jennifer Hennessy for a dollar amount on that “employees’ share” of the pensions. At that meeting she had told me, $7 million. Later she corrected herself via e-mail, and she used the word “pensions,” specifically. She said the actual amount was $10.1 million. 

But, reading the minutes of that meeting recently, I noticed they’d written “pensions and benefits.” I’d asked that question very carefully. I’d written it down on my notebook the day previous, and practiced saying it clearly and correctly. I said “pensions” at the meeting, and Hennessy said “pensions” in her e-mail. These are two different amounts, health insurance is a different plan.  So, I asked for clarification this morning.

I was told Hennessy had meant “pensions and benefits.” “Pensions are a subset of benefits… ” she said. But, they’re paid separately, they’re different plans, I asked specifically about “pensions.”  I start to feel like I’m just getting the runaround at these meetings. What I finally got was, we pay about $10 million toward pension premiums annually – including roughly $2 million toward the “employee share”.

The whole meeting was a runaround. Why Gruendl would schedule a meeting for the day after Christmas is beyond me. Unless of course, he wanted to discourage people from attending? The discussion was worthless, just a rehash of the discussion had at the meeting in October. New city manager, Brian Nakamura, was not even present – neither were Assistant City Manager John Rucker nor City Clerk Debbie Presson. When I attended last month, they had the same agenda, but another non-discussion. 

They’re just spinning their wheels on this. They’ve had to have seen this coming, it’s been predicted by economists since 1999.   An issue is so important, you need to schedule a meeting for 8am the day after Christmas, but it’s not important enough to DO ANYTHING about? 

I asked Gruendl why the city employees weren’t being asked to pay their own shares. He ducked my question, and  tried to tell me that new legislation that would affect future hires would “forbid” public employers from paying “employees’ share,” but Lori Barker cut in to say, this was not a law, merely a suggestion.  SHEESH! 

At one point during the meeting, Gruendl actually suggested it’s a good thing we’re laying off employees – it lowers expenses, that’s for sure! But he doesn’t mention the corresponding drop in service levels. There’s pot holes on my street you could break a leg in.

That’s their only answer – cut services in a chicken match with the public to see who will cave first. Gruendl is counting on us to knuckle under and pay more taxes to support the increases in our employees’  retirement contribution. 

Ironically, all this on the heels of a 10 minute discussion of the loss of Measure J – another rehash from last month, and the month before. Again they lamented the loss of an estimated $900,000 a year – although, Hennessy said this year’s loss would only “actually” be $500,000 – and then turned around and talked about a $63 million liability for these obscene pensions they’ve promised. The $2 million we pay toward the “employee share” would more than cover the “loss” of Measure J, but I was unable to shoehorn this idea into their heads. They have an agenda, and they’re sticking to it. 

If you don’t think this really stinks, if this doesn’t make you really mad, then you need to take your temperature. Or better yet – stick a fork in your ass – you’re done! 

 

 

 

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This is embezzlement. “Nice people” don’t embezzle.

23 Dec

Below is one page of absolute SHIT sent to me by Chico City Manager Brian Nakamura regarding our city’s unfunded pension liability. He sent me two downloads, hundreds of pages of gunk. You’d need to lay down bread crumbs to get through this stuff. Sent to me just the other day, I feel this is just a distraction for me, to read over Christmas Holiday? And show up at a meeting scheduled very purposely for one day after Christmas.

Look over the table below – what you should get out of this is, our city council has promised these ridiculous pension packages, promised an “employer share” that is more than the “employee share”, and then promised to pay most of the “employee share” too. Also, you should see, CalPERS promised they’d fund these crazy pensions, including their own, by investing on the stock market, and it’s not working. Compare the liabilities with the assets, and you’ll see CalPERS tanking. When CalPERS tanks, Brian Nakamura and his friends want us to think we’re liable for paying these pensions. 

Why are we putting up with this? Please write to Brian Nakamura, bnakamura@ci.chico.ca.us, and tell him we want new contracts, and we’re sick of paying for these plush pensions and benefits packages, including his. Write to your new mayor, Mary Goloff too, at mgoloff@ci.chico.ca.us.  Tell her we’re sick of paying her benefits package too. 

Nakamura tries to act as though he’s here to help us out! At $212,000 a year in salary, a roughly $50,000 increase over retired city manager Dave Burkland. In fact the council’s first act after hiring Nakamura was to approve a $50-something-thousand budget increase to pay his salary – it’s in the minutes folks, look that up yourselves.  And, Burkland just joined the pension club – at 70% of his $165,000+ salary. 

Let me make something  clear to  all these other public employees that have been wishing me a “Merry Christmas” with one hand in my purse: I don’t like you. I think you are an evil person who steals from and uses less-fortunate, or “not publicly employed”,  people to feather your own nest. I have lost all my respect for the concept of “public servant.” You people are public leeches. When CalPERS crashes, I don’t care what happens to you. I don’t wish you a Merry Christmas, in fact, I hope your Christmas sucks. 

Here’s the message Public Worker: I need your phony good will like a moose needs a hat rack. When you can stand up on your hind legs like homo sapiens instead slithering along like blood-sucking annelids, I might get some respect for you. Until then, just stay the hell out of my way and do your fucking jobs. 

CALPERS ACTUARIAL VALUATION – June 30, 2011
MISCELLANEOUS PLAN OF THE CITY OF CHICO
CalPERS ID 6818749730
Page 11
Development of Accrued and Unfunded Liabilities

1. Present Value of Projected Benefits

a) active members – $78,271,949

 b) Transferred members – $5,531,540

c) Terminated Members $2,951,837

d) Members and Beneficiaries Receiving Payments – $76,270,600

e) Total – $163,025,926


2. Present Value of Future Employer Normal Costs – $13,282,215

3. Present Value of Future Employee Contributions – $9,362,722

4. Entry Age Normal Accrued Liability

a) Active Members [(1a) – (2) – (3)] – $55,627,012

b) Transferred Members (1b) – $5,531,540

c) Terminated Members (1c) – $2,951,837

d) Members and Beneficiaries Receiving Payments (1d) – $76,270,600

e) Total – $140,380,989

5. Actuarial Value of Assets (AVA) $103,493,220

6. Unfunded Accrued Liability (AVA Basis)  [(4e) – (5)] – $36,887,769

7. Funded Ratio (AVA Basis) [(5) / (4e)] – 73.7%

8. Market Value of Assets (MVA) – $93,027,024

9. Unfunded Liability (MVA Basis)  [(4e) – (8)] – $47,353,96

10. Funded Ratio (MVA Basis) [(8) / (4e)] – 66.3%

 

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Get ready for Special Election January 8 – mail those ballots now!

22 Dec

I know, a lot of you have already forgotten what a mess the Fourth Senate District turned out, where Dan Logue, for some reason known only to him, decided to run for two offices at the same time – State Assembly and US Senate.  Logue isn’t a bad guy, I don’t know what was going on there.

Sure, I guess you could blame Doug LaMalfa, for jumping ship in the middle of his State Senate term to run for Wally Herger’s US Senate seat. But, frankly, I’m glad he did. I wasn’t always thrilled with Wally Herger’s performance, but  the last thing we need in that seat is some entitlements-happy liberal out to turn the North State into a bigger tax generator to pay salaries in LA.

But it did start a mess that’s going to cost us pretty good. Since Logue stuck his thumb in the Fourth District pie, we are faced with a stupid legal snaptrap – Jim Nielsen came less  than a percentage point of getting the required 50.1% of the vote, with 49.8. Meanwhile, Mickey Harrington came scraping in with a pathetic 27.7%. But still we will have to shell out the bucks for a run-off election.

Harrington should throw in the towel. And a stinky towel, I imagine. He’s been running unsuccessfully for an assembly seat since 2006. He’s dropped out of one race due to health problems. But last October, admittedly behind the 8-ball because of his last-minute scramble, crying “fix!”, Harrington decided to switch gears and run for Senate District 4. And that’s my fault?

He blames LaMalfa and Nielsen, but that’s just sour grapes talking.  In this most recent race, over 60% of the voters went with Republicans Nielsen and Logue. Harrington would have to get every one of Logue’s votes, as well as all of the other candidates’ combined votes, to come within spitting distance of Nielsen. I think he’d have to get some of Nielsen’s votes too!

But look at the time frame Jerry Brown placed on this election. According to the rules, this election could have been called as late as April. But Brown called it for January 8 – two weeks after Christmas. Only two months after that last contentious election. And right in the middle of the holiday mail season, he’s got postal workers handling our vote-by-mail ballots.  You know the Governor and his flying monkeys are banking on certain  people not voting. 

Well screw them, I voted already. My ballot came in the mail last week, and a mailer from Nielsen reminded my husband and I how little time we had to get it right back in the mail. So I penned in my vote and put it right back in my mailbox. Bon Voyageee!

A friend of mine was asking me how I feel about the issue of Nielsen’s residency. I thought about that, and realized, what’s legal is legal.  Nielsen has lived in this area, done business here, knows farming,  knows our issues.  He appreciates the lifestyle we have up here and how important it is to the health of the general state economy. For example, Nielsen and LaMalfa have been recognized for their efforts to keep ag programs alive in schools.

Meanwhile, ex-Chico Mayor Ann Schwab, who owns a spacious house in Forest Ranch, bought an apartment in Chico when she wanted to run for Chico City Council. I don’t see anything wrong with Nielsen living in a “trailer” in Gerber.

There’s always been talk of Nielsen taking money from Mansanto – but I’ve never heard of him being convicted or even warned about any kind of inappropriate behavior. And, a lot of farmers around here would say, Mansanto is a stakeholder in this community, they are as much a part of the local economy as prunes and nuts and rice. As long as they abide by the rules, they can donate money to whichever candidate they want – just like Scott Gruendl can take money from the National Gay and Lesbian PAC’s and Ann Schwab can take money from the Service Employees International Union and the firefighters’ PAC.

Harrington lives in Magalia – where he retired after a long service with PG&E and a long membership with the electrical workers’ union. Who knows where he’s from, or why he left to come out here, but his residency leaves him no more suited to represent the district than Nielsen. In fact, I feel his background leaves him more likely to represent corporate and union interests than those of rural ranchers, farm workers, small business owners, and small town residents.

I won’t vote for Harrington because he admittedly supported Prop 30 and opposed Prop 32. He also seems to have no interest in pension reform. According to his pre-election interview with the Chico Enterprise Record, Harrington said that “the majority of people with public pensions work for less than $20 an hour, and take less knowing a pension is included.”

That’s not correct in Chico. The police and fire departments make up the lion’s share of our employees, and they make well over $20/hour, especially when you tack on the overtime, sick leave and vacation accrual, and “special pay.”  Harrington is not thinking for the taxpayers, he’s thinking from the point of view of a very well-pensioned PG&E retiree. PG&E has many of the same policies in place in the public sector, of course he’s going to support the public sector on this – he’s not going to rock the boat.

I have not had a chance to poll the other regular attendees of the Taxpayers Association, I’ll be sure to ask around at the next meeting and see what other people think. But I’ve already voted for Nielsen.

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The City of Chico owes $63 million in “unfunded pension liabilities” – and counting!

21 Dec

I’m sorry, I’m just now digging out this report from the October Finance Committee meeting. I missed it, and the clerk has just recently posted the report, or minutes, for that meeting. The clerk’s office is getting faster at posting these minutes, they’re more complete, at least, better than before, and easier to read.

That is, if you have your dictionary handy. These people are experts at the legal lingo that’s intended to keep the rest of us out of the discussion. But, if you’re patient, persistent, and maybe throw down a trail of breadcrumbs, you’ll maybe come out of it with your head twisted on straight.

The blob below is cut and pasted right out of the report. It’s like one of those steaks – if you eat the whole thing, you get it free?  NO!

 I’d recommend, take an aspirin before you start reading these reports, but that’s up to your doctor.

These people use obtuse language to hide the truth. Here you see, “internal operational obligations” means workers comp, sick leave and vacation accruals. By “accruals” they mean, these people don’t use their sick or vacation time, and they get a cash pay-out for it later. They worked those days, and got paid, and then they get paid again for the vacation or sick days they didn’t take.  In other words, they get paid twice for the same block of time, just one of the scams these people use to jack their salaries up from a reasonable range to over $100,000 a year.

And, if you look into it, you’ll find study after study that links over work and excessive overtime directly to excessive workman’s comp payout. Twice I’ve heard Jennifer Hennessy report that the city has been over budget on workman’s comp, so they’ve just raised the budget projections to cover it.

If your child goes “overbudget” on their texting, do you pay more on your plan, or do you take the kid’s cell phone away?  My son was told that if he wants to text, he needs to get a job and pay for it himself. Being a taxpayer living in the City of Chico is like being tied to a chair while somebody goes crazy with your credit cards. 

“External operational obligations” are CalPERS and health care. How many of you are without insurance? How many of you have NO retirement fund? In the real world, it’s all fine and good to talk about saving away for the future – well, how do you do that with excessive taxes on your home, excessive fees for sending your kid to college, excessive fees on your small business? Most people are struggling just to make ends meet. I know I’ve had to make more than one foray on my “retirement fund”.   My new plan is, DIE BY 65! I’ll let you know how that’s going!

 

FROM THE OCTOBER FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING – available at this link, under “2012 Minutes”:

http://www.chico.ca.us/government/minutes_agendas/finance_committee.asp

C. Discussion of Unfunded Obligations – The City Manager asked the Committee to begin discussion of
Unfunded Obligations. Discussion from this meeting will provide the framework for future discussions on
this item. (Verbal Report – Brian Nakamura, City Manager and Jennifer Hennessy, Finance Director)
City Manager Nakamura has been working with Finance Director Hennessy on creating a draft table of
unfunded obligations. She has been able to divide the unfunded obligations into three general categories:
internal and external operational and capital. This is more commonly termed unfunded liabilities, which
means these are items that the City may be responsible for in the future in terms of what could be paid
for PERS or workers comp. Examples of internal operational obligations include workers compensation,
sick leave and vacation accruals. External operational obligations include PERS and health care. Capital
obligations include infrastructure improvements and maintenance, vehicle replacements and facilities
expansions and development.
City Manager Nakamura noted in the table there is approximately $63 million for unfunded liabilities for
CalPERS. This is difficult to get your hands around because it relates to employees who are either retired,
are going to retire or who are currently with the City. However, that amount would only be incurred if all
employees retired at once. With pension reform happening, we know that number will start to shrink. We
can also be hopeful that CalPERS investments start to increase and we start to see a more positive
adjustment.
Committee Member Sorensen stated he would like to have a better understanding of fleet and technology
replacement and find out where we are versus where we ought to be, knowing that we shorted these funds
in previous years. Chair Gruendl added to also find out if there is a budget policy that says where the
funds ought to be.
Finance Director Hennessy replied that there is a fleet replacement schedule, however staff hasn’t
prepared a full update since implementing a lot of the budget reduction strategies along with the new ways
staff is managing the fleet. On technology replacement, in 09/10, staff put together a schedule related to
hardware replacement. Staff has not quantified what it would be to replace all the software systems, such
as financial accounting software and the police department system.
Chair Gruendl noted that the fleet replacement fund is down $500,000. He asked if this is a result of
purchases that have already occurred and we have failed to put an adequate amount in to cover it, have
we put nothing in there since 07/08 and are we not meeting a budget obligation for what should be going
in there.
Finance Director Hennessy replied that the obligation of the budget policy is not being met. Prior to 07/08,
we were putting around $600,000 in annually and the fund balance was around $4 million. After 07/08, we
felt it would be okay to reduce that annual amount due to the fleet optimization implemented by GSD.
There is currently $2.7 million in the fund.

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The squeaky wheel might get the grease, but that’s not all it’s going to take to shut her up.

21 Dec

Debbie Presson sent me a note to say she’d had the report for the November 27 Finance Committee meeting amended to reflect the other questions I asked at the meeting, and the answers from staff. You can see that here:

Click to access 2012Minutes.pdf

The minutes for that meeting are posted there at the end of 2012.  

I also got a note from Brian Nakamura, with attached documents regarding the city’s share of CalPERS costs – yeah, it’s bad alright. You have to write to your council, and ask them what made them promise these outrageous packages in those closed door bargaining sessions they’ve held us out of for so long. Now we’re allowed to look at the contracts, sure – like a condemned prisoner stares out the cell window at the gallows. These idiots have put us on the hook for MILLIONS of dollars, a YEAR, in pension payments, more than the employees pay. And then there’s the “unfunded obligations” – that is on the agendas for the next six months! Nakamura is trying to spoon-feed us that manure, and I don’t know about you, but I’m spitting it out. 

We need to shut this city down. 

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