Posts Tagged CalPERS
Fullerton’s Real Unfunded Pension Liability: At Least $60 Million
Posted by Travis Kiger in Union Goons, Watch Your Wallet on September 2, 2010
Last year CalPERS reported that the city of Fullerton is facing an unfunded pension liability of $37,531,831 on our public safety employees’ retirement plan. That’s the amount that we currently owe our public servants above and beyond all future budgeted payments.
Of course, many professional actuarials believe that CalPERS’ figures are purposefully understated. They’re just being nice. What we’ve learned over the last few years is that CalPERS and the unions have been feeding our politicians a big fat load of lies, which were used to pump up their pensions. The figures are derived from proven unrealistic investment returns that can never be achieved. Studies conducted by Stanford grads and the NCPA agree.
So we asked an industry insider to recalculate Fullerton’s unfunded pension liability using a realistic rate of return for a government pension system. While he could not do a detailed actuarial report for our city, he stated that using a more realistic 5% long-term rate of return “would raise the unfunded liability by somewhere between 60% to 120% in most pension systems.”
Based on those figures, it’s safe to say that Fullerton’s real unfunded pension liability is somewhere between $60,000,000 and $83,000,000. That’s just for the police and fire unions, which has about 250 currently employed members.
Wrap your head around that. Sixty million dollars of unfunded, unplanned debt just for our little city of Fullerton. That money will not be spent on roads, parks, infrastructure, libraries or public safety. It will be given away to retired public employees, long after they’ve stopped serving our city.
If we don’t do something about it now, it’s going to get worse.
The $215,000 Man
Posted by The Desert Rat in Fullerton 2010, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on July 5, 2010
What valuable piece of manpower is worth paying over $200,000 per annum not to do anything?
I'm your man...
If you guessed former Fullerton Police Chief Patrick McKinley you’d be right on the money. If there was ever a poster boy for out of control police pensions it would be Chief McKinley. See, the big guy pulls down a cool $96K a year from his old job at the LAPD that he’s been collecting since he left 17 years ago; then there’s the $118,000 he now rakes in from CalPERS, presumably from his time as Fullerton’s top cop.
Yipes! $215,000 a year in pension receipts; or about $18,000 a month; or $4100 every single week. More than he ever earned actually working. For the rest of his freaking life. If he lives another 20 years that’ll add up to $4,300,000 on top of what he’s already got, not counting cost of living increases.
Why is this important, apart from the obvious illustration of public safety pensions run amok? Because the word on Commonwealth Avenue is that Mr. McKinley is being promoted for City Council appointment to replace Shawn Nelson by Don Bankhead and Dick Jones – two other public pensioneers, one of whom is also a former cop.
In the RINO world of Bankhead and Jones this sort of thing is just hunky-dory. But for a lot of people – liberals and conservatives alike, the thought of this massive double dipper making pension decisions that affect Fullerton taxpayers is reminiscent of the fox guarding the hen house.
And of course we also remember McKinley as the police vest carney and vocal backer of the hideous Linda Ackerwoman creature.
Sorry guys. No sale.
Cal State Fullerton’s Pension Tsunami Shell Game and Our Kid’s Future
Posted by Greg Sebourn in CSUF, Watch Your Wallet on April 9, 2010
Titan waste
After showing you how management lives in the lap of luxury last week, I received an email from a Friend who brought to my attention a Cal State University system business practice that forces out qualified, lower paid part-time lecturers and untenured faculty, and brings back higher paid, semi retired faculty. The faculty and management at our own Cal State Fullerton know this practice as FERPing. Just the sound of the acronym sounds like something they should apologize for and we haven’t even said what exactly FERPing is.
The Faculty Early Retirement Program, as the name implies, allows faculty to retire early and then come right back to work. On the surface it creates a lower fiscal burden on local university funding which looks like a cost savings for guys like Milton A. Gordon, who gets $302,042 per year while living rent-free at the El Dorado Ranch. The reality is that it costs taxpayers and students more than if the schools utilized the lower paid, part-time faculty who are otherwise forced out under FERP.
Retirement never looked so lucrative. While everyone else must take furloughs or are getting laid off outright, the FERPers receive FREE parking, ALL of their retirement benefits, and 50% of their last salary. That’s part of the reason why your kid’s tuition continues to rise and classes are getting canceled. This Cal State double-dipping program is brought to you by the public employee unions as a result of the spineless leader who is content to live in his rent-free mansion with an inflated salary and the entitlement attitude of senior public employees. Some FERPers have been milking us for more than 5 years!
Here is an example of the compensation structure that FERPers use to determine just how good retirement might be:
Age: 63 1/2 years (CalPERS retirement age percentage factor: 2.5%)
Length of Service: 27 years
Highest Salary: $87,500(during any 12 month period of CalPERS covered employment)(minus $133.33 monthly deduction for Social Security = $1,599.96)
Calculation: 27 years x .025 (age factor percentage) = 67.5% of highest salary
Estimated CalPERS retirement salary: $85,900 x .675 (age factor percentage) = $57,982
Plus estimated FERP salary: (half of faculty base $70,800) $35,400
Total estimated retirement salary plus FERP salary: $93,382
It’s time to wean the leaches off our sweet cream before all we are left with is sour cream for our kids. Email Milton Gordon at mgordon@fullerton.edu or you can call him in his CSUF public employee office at (657) 278-3456. Tell Milton Gordon it’s time to act fiscally responsible with our tax dollars.
Below are some links I stumbled over which helped put FERPing in perspective for me:
http://www.fullerton.edu/Emeriti/preretirement.htm
http://collegelife.freedomblogging.com/2009/08/13/cal-state-fullerton-abruptly-begins-canceling-classes/7103/
http://www.calstate.edu/csuleader/2004/040511.htm
http://www.csufresno.edu/aps/forms_policies/retirement_ferp.shtml
http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/personnel/retirement/ferp/
Fullerton’s $100,000 Pension Club Welcomes 15 New Members
Posted by Travis Kiger in Fullerton BooHoo, Fullerton City Council, Statewide Stuff, Watch Your Wallet on April 8, 2010
It’s been almost a year since we published the original list of retired Fullerton public employees earning over $100,000 per year in pensions.
Since then we have learned that our state’s unfunded pension liability has grown to over $500 billion dollars. Our Friends over at California Pension Reform have updated their list of CalPERS pensions, bringing on fifteen new “hundred grand” members from Fullerton this year. That’s an increase of 40% in a single year.
So let’s see who is getting the most from largess from taxpayers. New members are in bold:
| Name | Annual Pension | Position |
| JAMES “JIM” REED | $166,781.88 | Fire |
| GEOFFREY SPALDING | $149,852.88 | Police |
| GREGORY MAYES | $148,889.40 | Police |
| MICHAEL MAYNARD | $140,317.20 | Police |
| DANIEL CHIDESTER | $139,416.72 | Fire |
| FRANK PAUL DUDLEY | $133,821.00 | Development Services Director |
| ALLEN BURKS | $133,782.36 | Police |
| DOUGLAS CAVE | $130,761.36 | Police |
| GLENN STEINBRINK | $127,533.00 | Administrative Director |
| ANTONIO HERNANDEZ | $127,402.20 | Police |
| H SUSAN HUNT | $126,970.80 | Director of Park and Recreation |
| STEVEN MATSON | $126,430.68 | Police |
| RONNY ROWELL | $125,168.40 | Police |
| TERRY STRINGHAM | $123,482.28 | Fire |
| GEORGE NEWMAN | $121,410.60 | |
| RICHARD RILEY | $121,113.36 | |
| MARK FLANNERY | $120,934.68 | Director of Personnel |
| DAVID STANKO | $120,279.84 | Police |
| ROBERT HODSON | $119,956.08 | Director of Engineering |
| ROBERT “BOB” RICHARDSON | $119,720.88 | Police |
| PATRICK MCKINLEY | $118,446.48 | Chief of Police |
| DANIEL BECERRA | $116,917.20 | Police |
| NEAL BALDWIN | $116,740.68 | Police |
| PHILIP GOEHRING | $115,076.04 | Police |
| BRAD HOCKERSMITH | $115,053.84 | Fire |
| JEFFREY ROOP | $113,618.88 | Police |
| KURT BERTUZZI | $109,255.08 | Fire |
| LINDA KING | $108,168.84 | Police |
| DONALD “DON” PEARCE | $107,972.76 | Police |
| CAROLYN JOHNSON | $107,179.80 | Library Director |
| TIMOTHY JANOVICK | $106,330.44 | |
| PAUL TURNEY | $105,747.12 | |
| RONALD “RON” GILLETT | $105,499.56 | Police |
| ARTHUR WIECHMANN | $104,153.76 | Police |
| JONATHON “JON” MCAULAY | $102,034.80 | Fire |
| RICHARD HUTCHINSON | $101,822.16 | |
| JOHN PIERSON | $101,524.92 | |
| HUGH BERRY | $100,488.84 | Assistant City Manager |
| WILLIAM KENDRICK | $100,194.48 | Police |
Remember… public employee pensions are negotiated between the unions and our city council. It’s time to figure out who has been representing the taxpayers and who has been sticking up for the unions.
Teachers’ Pension Fund Lying Low, Set to Explode
Posted by Travis Kiger in Fullerton School Board, Statewide Stuff on December 21, 2009
Certain Fullerton school board members have taken issue with our characterization of the CalSTRS teachers’ pension system as being underfunded and unsustainable. Our resident pension expert suggests that that the board may be reading a few too many rose-colored newsletters emanating from the retirement system itself. Perhaps some illumination is necessary.
This is as clear as it gets.
Before the market crash, CalSTRS was facing a $22.5 billion dollar shortfall. Since then, the market crash has killed about 30% of its assets. At this point, nobody knows how short the fund will be until it is recalculated in the spring. But the results are guaranteed to be frightening.
It’s true that CalPERS is getting all of the attention lately, but that’s only because CalSTRS doesn’t have the same power to levy rate hikes without legislative approval. Rest assured, the teachers’ union has already begun its lobbying effort to boost taxpayer contributions for teachers who retired long ago.
Some estimate that the fund will need to increase contributions by 75% next year. Pension apologists love to claim that “teachers pay for their own retirement”. The truth: payments to the teachers’ pension fund are primarily made by taxpayers, with only about 40% coming from teachers.
Well, maybe sometimes it's too late to be smart.
Further efforts by CalSTRS to distance itself from the problems at CalPERS were hindered again this week as Moodys cut debt ratings for both agencies.
After the bomb goes off next year, the smoke will clear and taxpayers will be reaching into their wallets to clean up another mess. Who is to blame? State legislatures past and present, ignorant school boards across the state, the all-powerful teachers unions and their deceptive actuarials.
For regular updates on the pension crisis and its affect around the nation, visit Fullerton’s very own PensionTsunami.com. School board members should subscribe to email updates, lest they remain uninformed as the tidal wave approaches.
MWD RAISES RATES; NOW WANTS TO JACK UP PENSIONS
Posted by The Fullerton Harpoon in Fullerton 2010, Fullerton City Council, Watch Your Wallet on September 4, 2009
A River of Greed Runs Through It...
UPDATE: The MWD Board will take up this matter at its meeting on Sept 15.
The Metropolitan Water District, one of the shadowiest and least transparent agencies in California is contemplating raising its employees pension benefits. The Register opines about it here and makes reference to an original story by Teri Sforza here .
With bad news about how its own pension plan has been rocked by huge CalPERS investment losses, and with financially teetering state and municipal governments it seems like a poor time for the MWD to be grabbing for more tax-payer backed gravy to benefit a giant gaggle of water bureaucrats. Plus, the MWD just passed along a water commodity rate to its members that we are all paying for.
Fullerton is original member of the MWD and has been represented for a long time, some say way too long, by a fellow named Jim Blake – as we wrote about here .
Jim Blake from the MWD is here, and he's here to help. But whom? The ratepayers or the MWD bureaucrats?
UPDATE: The MWD is scheduled to take up this matter at its meeting on September 15.
Jim has been on the MWD Board for so long that almost nobody can remember when he went on back in the 80s (1980s, that is). The people who originally appointed him are all long gone. But Jim has well-managed his continual reappointment without anybody else getting a shot at the job. Well, now he’s got an issue that may just spell trouble for his lengthy tenure.
Blake has always been a big pro-staff drum-beater, and its hard to imagine that if, left to his own devises, he wouldn’t go for the pension jack. If he goes for it now, the people who appointed him may discover that it is they who are ultimately responsible for the actions of their appointees. Under ordinary circumstances this might not bother Fullerton’s own pension spiking gang too much. But 2010 is an election year, and we feel certain that this the pension increase will become an issue if it goes through. The city council needs to know that this continued fiscal recklessness will not be tolerated.
The List – Fullerton’s $100,000 Pension Club
Posted by Travis Kiger in Fullerton City Council on May 12, 2009
Fullerton taxpayers are looking down the barrel of a major increase in pension payments next year. The CalPERS agency has lost as much as 37% of its assets in the stock market crash and taxpayers are contractually obligated to make up the difference.
Our Friends at the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility just released a report called the CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club. In their handy database, we located the annual pensions of 26 City of Fullerton employees who are bringing home over $100,000 a year post-retirement at our expense. We believe in an open government where the residents of Fullerton know what they are paying for — so here is the list:
| Name | Annual Pension | Position |
| JAMES “JIM” REED | $163,512.96 | Fire |
| MICHAEL MAYNARD | $137,565.84 | Police |
| DANIEL CHIDESTER | $136,680.84 | Fire |
| FRANK PAUL DUDLEY | $131,197.20 | Development Services Director |
| ALLEN BURKS | $131,152.92 | Police |
| ANTONIO HERNANDEZ | $124,902.12 | Police |
| H HUNT | $124,157.88 | |
| RONNY ROWELL | $122,712.12 | Police |
| STEVEN MATSON | $121,586.16 | Police |
| GEORGE NEWMAN | $120,332.76 | |
| MARK FLANNERY | $118,563.48 | Director of Personnel |
| DAVID STANKO | $117,924.00 | Police |
| ROBERT HODSON | $117,606.60 | Director of Engineering |
| DANIEL BECERRA | $114,625.56 | Police |
| PHILIP GOEHRING | $112,821.12 | Police |
| BRAD HOCKERSMITH | $111,957.96 | Fire |
| JEFFREY ROOP | $111,382.32 | Police |
| NEAL BALDWIN | $110,694.12 | Police |
| ROBERT “BOB” RICHARDSON | $107,643.48 | Police |
| DONALD “DON” PEARCE | $105,858.00 | Police |
| CAROLYN JOHNSON | $105,078.48 | Library Director |
| PAUL TURNEY | $103,674.36 | |
| RONALD “RON” GILLETT | $103,431.72 | Police |
| MICHAEL PARKER | $103,069.32 | CSUF CIO |
| ARTHUR WIECHMANN | $102,113.88 | Police |
| JONATHON “JON” MCAULAY | $100,036.32 | Fire |
Though we did our best to identify the contributions these individuals made to our city, some of the names do not ring a bell. Perhaps our loyal audience can fill in the blanks for us.
Say Fran... we really stuck it to those dumb taxpayers.
We are not against paying market rate for talented and motivated professionals to run our dear city — our disdain lies with the cloud of financial uncertainty that pension plans represent to our taxpayers. Historically, pensions are gleefully spiked in rosy times, with little thought given to potential long-term risks.
Out in the real world, we often use a calculation called “Total Compensation” — the sum of all salary, health benefits, taxes and retirement contributions for a given employee. This number allows both the employee and the employer to calculate the exact compensation of the employee and to ensure that it is comparable to that of similar jobs at other businesses. Businesses can see exactly what they are paying for an employee and thus how that will affect their budget for years to come.
With pensions, no such calculation is possible because an employer is making a future commitment based on unlikely investment forecasts stretching 50 years into the future. As we are about to painfully learn, those forcasts can be incredibly wrong. If we don’t change the way we compensate city employees now, we will continue to foot the bill for a very long time.
When Opportunity Knocks
Posted by admin in Fullerton City Council on December 31, 2008
Fullerton Police Capt. Geoff Spalding, 52, a 32 year veteran with the Fullerton Police Department, was hired to become the Police Chief of Beaverton, Oregon, on Monday. The Oregon town has a population of 85,000 and 132 sworn officers. Fullerton has 160 sworn officers for a population of 140,000. In a prepared statement, Beaverton Mayor-elect Denny Doyle indicated it was a difficult decision to select a chief, but (Spalding’s) experience and his history of involvement in his local community will serve Beaverton very well.
Raised in Fullerton, Spalding attended Woodcrest Elementary, Wilshire Junior High, Sunny Hills High, Fullerton Collage and Cal State Fullerton where he earned a degree in criminal justice. He also holds a master’s degree in emergency management from Cal State Long Beach. He and his wife have two sons, ages 18 and 20. He was involved with the Cub Scouts at the Fullerton Kiwanis Club for 8 years and is a volunteer for several other local civic organizations. He was a proponent of a new “gang intervention” program with Fullerton “at risk” youth. Spalding will be trading a salary of $153,000 plus benefits for Beaverton’s salary of $118,836 plus benefits. Because of CalPERS, Spalding will also receive 90% of his final “retirement” salary. The Fullerton City Council recently hired a search firm to the tune of $40,000 to conduct a search to replace retiring Chief Pat McKinley next month.Spalding spent Christmas day, what perhaps could be his last day on the force patrolling Fullerton streets so the younger officers could spend some holiday time with their families. “I would have loved to have become the Chief of my hometown” Spalding said.Oddly, the Fullerton City Council would save tax payers over $1.5 million over the next ten years if it were to happen.
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