Travis, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

September 28, 2010September 28, 2010Behind Closed Doors

Firefighters Lose. How Much Do They Make, Anyway?

Here’s a fun repeat-post from last spring – featuring two of 4SD Observer’s favorite idols: emergency service providers and the dim-witted Pam Keller. For sheer fat-headedness, selfishness, and fiscal irresponsibility, you just can’t beat the ESP union.

– Joe Sipowicz

Pam Keller was the only city council member who did not have the guts to impose a %5 pay reduction on members of the Fullerton firefighter’s union after negotiations failed on Tuesday. The union refused to accept a deal similar to those offered to all other Fullerton employees.

The union says the pay cut is unfair. Is that true? Let’s see what firefighters actually took home last year:

View the 2009 Fullerton Fire Dept payroll

In addition to the gross pay numbers above, firefighters receive the following estimated benefits at the city’s expense:

Pension contribution: ~30% of base salary. Ranges from $15,000 to 28,000/yr, not including unfunded liabilities
Medical: $5,460 to $14,748/yr
Dental: $588 to $1,128/yr

Not a bad gig. It’s no wonder there are hundreds of applicants whenever a position opens up.

Does Keller really think that asking this highly compensated group of public employees to take the same pay cut as everyone else was “unfair?’

pamkeller — Us public employees gotta watch out for each other.

Or perhaps Pam is just sticking to what Pam does best: Helping folks suck as much as possible out of the public trough. By any means, at any cost.

September 26, 2010About Us

Stop the Madness Now! The G-Rated Version

by Travis60 Comments

Last week we presented this hilarious dialog between a distraught taxpayer and a union firefighter, which became an instant hit across the country. While the clip had no problem making it onto the workstations of public agencies far and wide, we also had many requests for a G-Rated version.

Despite our concern that self-censorship may inhibit the fine directorial talents of our anonymous Oliver Stone, he was happy to oblige:

Of course, most will probably prefer the original profanity-laced version here: Stop the Madness Now!

September 24, 2010September 24, 2010About Us

What If Your Boss Gave You a 1200% Retirement Match?

by Travis62 Comments

That’s what members of Fullerton’s police and fire unions get from us.

Almost all of the candidates are talking about pension reform now, but they don’t quite have their figures right. According to the city’s HR Director, public safety employees currently pay 2.557% of thier salaries towards their multi-million dollar retirements, while taxpayers pick up the rest. This year, we’re paying an additional 29.752% of their salaries towards their retirements, and it’s set to shoot much higher.

In private-sector terms, that’s equivalent to an employer 401(k) match of 1200%. That’s twenty-four times the average out here in the real world.

September 23, 2010September 23, 2010Fullerton 2010

Chaffee’s Magical Tax

by Travis19 Comments

Plenty of bad ideas were tossed about at the candidate at the forum on Monday night, but this one from council hopeful Doug Chaffee takes the cake:

So according to Chaffee, doubling the hotel tax in the middle of a recession will bring more hotels and visitors into the area. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of logic behind his idea, but perhaps that’s why he calls it “magical.”

Chaffee pushes the idea further by suggesting that Fullerton should “generate” (aka subsidize) a new hotel to compete with Disneyland, the most famous theme park in the entire world.

ihasafunny-disneyland — Gee, another one?

Of course we’re later reassured by Chaffee that the tax would only be tacked on to “other people” who make the mistake of taking brief refuge in our city. That’s the old divide-and-conquer tax scheme that’s plagued California businesses for a long time: levy heavy taxes against each industry, one at a time. Who’s next?

Hey Doug, a tax is a tax, and there has never been a worse time to raise taxes. And quit trying to convince us that we should be more like Anaheim.

Update: Click here to suffer through the entire event.

September 18, 2010Union Goons

Greenhut: Pension Reform Must Happen at a Local Level

by Travis15 Comments

Author Steven Greenhut delivers a dismal report for those looking for pension reform to come out of the state legislature: It ain’t gonna happen. Cities and schools must save themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujCwsG4P9ZI

But we are still the masters of our fate. If we move quickly, there are things that can be done to prevent this financial disaster from passing on to our children, although they will require unconventional courage, wisdom and action. So who’s going to step up to the plate and rescue Fullerton?

September 16, 2010September 16, 2010Fullerton 2010

Aaron Gregg Wriggles Out From Under His Taxes with a Quick Bankruptcy

by Travis28 Comments

When you put your name on the ballot, you’re asking voters to trust you with hundred million dollar budgets and the power of a government office. Therefore, it is a duty of the public to make sure that each candidate is qualified to handle this burden of responsibility. Anybody with a financial history that cannot stand up to basic scrutiny should not put themselves out in front of the voters.

On that note, Aaron Gregg should not be running for Fullerton City Council.

aaron-gregg-short — Okay, creditors to the back of the line!

You see, attorney Aaron Charles Gregg filed for a $107,000 bankruptcy about 10 years ago, discharging over $75,000 in federal and state back taxes and $30,000 in other debts to individuals and businesses, all while claiming $8,000 a month in income from his business.

View the bankruptcy filing

It’s all laid bare in these papers that were filed in federal bankruptcy court, which show that Aaron Gregg neglected to pay his taxes for most of the years from 1992 through 1998. When the debt piled up, he hired an attorney and let it all go.

Among the more curious items in the filings, Aaron Gregg listed assets of $25 dollars cash, $200 in clothes, $75 wrist watch and some office supplies. Times must have been tough for this professional attorney of 21 years. Fortunes were about to change, however, when he realized that he would be able to dump his debt but keep his leased $5,000 Savin copier. I bet that will come in handy some day.

savin-copier — I'll need that when I run for city council.

The documents also show that halfway through the bankruptcy process, Aaron Gregg discovered that he might also owe money to a family in San Pablo City, Philippines. What could that be for? Well they’re never going to vote in Fullerton. Might as well get rid of that debt too.

philipine-jeepney — It was a bad investment.

In the end, it looks like Aaron was able to dump over $100,000 owed to nine different creditors, two of which were government agencies. When the tax man doesn’t get his revenue, guess who gets to make up for it? That’s right, you and me. And somehow I have a feeling that Aaron Charles Gregg made it out of this financial mess and has been doing just fine ever since. But that’s no reason for him to think he’s a valid candidate to run our city.

On second thought, Aaron’s keen ability to get himself out of unwieldy financial commitments may come in handy when it’s time for Fullerton to escape our massive redevelopment and pension debts. But it’s probably safer to just call him in as a consultant.

September 14, 2010September 14, 2010Don Bankhead

Levinson Wallops Bankhead

by Travis18 Comments

The latest Mickadiet column gave Fullerton candidate Barry Levinson a chance to tell us what he really thinks of mayor Don Bankhead, and Barry did not disappoint.

See, Barry contacted the mayor when he learned that a sex offender was about to move into his neighborhood, which should have been protected by Jessica’s Law due to it’s proximity to Laguna Lake park.

The way Barry tells it, Bankhead did nothing to solve the neighborhood’s sex offender problem. Well actually, it’s worse than that. Bankhead launched a typical delay and distract strategy to avoid facing the issue, doing nothing while telling Barry that he was working on it. In Levinson’s own words:

He said Bankhead “assured us he was ‘on our side’ and would get back to us within a few days with more information.” Ten days went by, “no call from Mayor Bankhead.” When they finally talked, he says, Bankhead “had no answers for us but assured us he was still working the problem. That was the last time the mayor ever spoke to us … He did absolutely nothing. This mayor always touts his police background … What a total disappointment.”

City staff told Bankhead that Jessica’s Law had no teeth, so there was nothing that the police could do about it. Great. Responsibility absolved, right? Rather than pursue the issue by pushing for a new ordinance (a task that Levinson ended up taking on himself), Bankhead opted for the do-nothing-and-hope-Barry-the-citizen-goes-away approach.

Major backfire. Now Barry is challenging the Burger King’s 22-year rule.

September 10, 2010September 10, 2010Fullerton City Council

What’s Another $30 Million? Charge It.

by Travis14 Comments

What happens when you run up a credit card but only make the minimum payment? It never works out very well. But that’s how Fullerton is handling $30,000,000 in retiree health care commitments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntIaUiv9seU

Jack Dean passed along this unfortunate piece from the OC Register which exposes over $1 billion in unfunded retiree health commitments for Orange County and its cities. Fullerton’s spending problem is summarized here:

City	Fullerton
Population	138,610
Unfunded costs	$29,986,735
Unfunded cost per capita	$216
Maximum benefit (per year)	$9,744
Paid in 2009	$1,927,528
Does the agency pay only the minimum cost?	Yes
Is a lifetime benefit offered?	Fire employees
Source: Retiree health costs and other retiree data from local cities and the county; population statistics from the California Department of Finance

Retiree health benefits are negotiated between our city council and the public employee unions during contract renewals. Supervisor John Moorlach says they are an easy squeeze for unions because boosting benefits for employees requires no up-front cost to the city.

Much like exorbitant pensions, these benefits are a long-term commitment where the future costs are impossible to calculate at the time the entitlements are given. Ultimately, taxpayers are responsible if costs “unexpectedly” spiral out of control. And of course, they always do.

September 6, 2010September 12, 2010Fullerton School Board

Norby Pushes Schools to Adopt Teacher Scorecards

by Travis17 Comments

The LA Times has published it’s entire database of what it calls “Value Added” teacher ratings, scoring LAUSD teachers with a method that tracks individual students’ advancement as they pass through classrooms over the years.

Sample Rating — Example of a teacher's rating

In support of this idea, State Assemblyman Chris Norby just sent the following letter to current school board members and to this year’s candidates. In the letter, Norby asks them to figure out how to publish similar rankings for Fullerton teachers and schools.

Click to read Norby’s letter

The LA Times’ controversial scoring method is supposed to reflect a teacher’s effectiveness at raising standardized test scores using seven years of student testing data. While the Times admits that the scores do not rate every aspect of a teacher’s effectiveness, they do “bear on the performance of public employees who provide and important service.”

In defense against the teachers’ union outcry over the release of this data, the Times asserts that parents and the rest of the public have a right to view all of this data for the benefit of children.

We’re anxious to find out how the candidates respond to Norby’s request. This information would be extremely beneficial for Fullerton parents.

September 5, 2010September 5, 2010Fullerton 2010

Who Else Took The School Union Endorsement?

by Travis15 Comments

Last week this blog criticized school board candidate Janny Meyer for announcing her acceptance of the endorsement of the Fullerton teachers’ union while simultaneously claiming to be a fiscal conservative. Shortly thereafter we had learned that Bev Berryman and Aaruni Thakur had also accepted union support, albeit much more quietly.

For Aaruni, the endorsement was a given. Being a union tool is practically a requirement for the modern Democrat politician. Who can fault a guy for latching onto the massive union political machine which has helped put so many Democrats into office? Well, I suppose Republicans could find that to be a cause for concern.

Berryman’s acceptance, on the other hand, is much more disappointing. She won her first school board campaign without any union support, so she certainly didn’t need it now that she is an incumbent. Saying “no” to this powerful special interest would have been the best way for her to preserve her independence. She certainly has opened herself up to closer scrutiny on future votes.

On the bright side, Bev does have a history of taking stands on important issues that put her at odds with the union. She led the charge against the most recent attempt to launch a parcel tax on Fullerton voters. Bev also was the only school boarder who has repeatedly said no to imposing the expensive Apple laptop fees on parents throughout the entire One-to-One laptop fiasco. And she has never been on the receiving end of union’s negotiating power as a government employee.

So that begs the question: Why did the union endorse her anyway?