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’sreal 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.
Le administrateur asked me to respond to Dan C’s tirade on The Liberal OC in regards to Shawn Nelson’s cigar largess to the troops. As Gustavo wrote, “this is one of the worst argued posts I have seen in a very long time”. It would appear that Dan C. failed to do any research, choosing to write a hit piece rather than an article. Had he done so, he would have found out that cigars are just an addition to the snacks and other useful items being sent by Mr. Nelson. Let me address Dan C’s tirade against sending tobacco products to the front line.
While smoking is a recognized issue by the medical corps, there are many more things that can easily kill a soldier, airman, sailor or Marine while in theater. IEDs, mortar and small arms fire, vehicle rollovers, helicopter or flight crashes to name just a few. Hence, the combat theater isn’t the easiest place to start a smoking cessation program and be successful. Soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines smoke for a number of reasons –because their peers are doing it, it helps them blow off stress, and also to pass the time between waiting and combat.
LT Zelinksi Chaplain
Once they are CONUS, the military can and often does start in on smoking cessation programs, which also includes insidious chewing tobacco. Any form of smoking or chewing tobacco contributes to a variety of smoking related diseases and ailments. Because they will have their health needs covered by TriCare or the VA, smoking cessation programs are essential. Our challenge as a nation is to help our military heroes cope with physical, emotional and stress related issues (including PTSD) by offering alternatives to smoking through array of integrated therapeutic venues. This is the focus for the next 30 years for the veteran and veteran support communities.
My suggestion to Mr. Nelson and others is twofold:
1. Continue sending things into the combat theater, and encourage others to do so too. I’ve prepared a document called Troop Support For Newbies available through my blog, The Kitchen Dispatch. TSFN has been widely shared across the nation, among families, troop support organizations and through the military ranks. In addition, for those on a budget: the thing soldiers like best are letters! FYI, The Boys and Girls Club Teen Center on Richman completed a letter writing campaign last spring. Their letters were sent to Afghanistan, where a chaplain picked them up and delivered them to soldiers in a remote outpost (see photo). Consider rewarding these young patriots with a big fat check for upgrades on their kitchen.
2. Give to veterans programs that work to help a soldiers well-being after he or she returns home. Several excellent programs run by private non profit organizations may be found on my blog. This post ran last week, and made the rounds of both the military community and up the ranks: The Kitchen Dispatch: Getting Rid of Mental Health Stigma. Many of us work together –regardless of differing viewpoints on war, or politics to ensure a veteran at all stages of life is supported with dignity. Those who volunteer for the military constitute less than 1% of the population.
Supporting the troops goes far beyond sending things to the front line. For many, the real battle begins when they are home. Nelson’s support is always welcome, and we appreciate that he keeps the men and women who serve in mind. Should he need to contact me directly, the best way to do this is through Fullerton’s Future COC.
Sincerely,
Kanani Fong
Military Spouse
The Kitchen Dispatch
PR Team, National Geographic’s Restrepo
Writer, PBS Regarding War
Assclown and Fast Food Clown. You decide which is which.
Today I got an e-mail from Hide And Seek Harry Sidhu “unveiling” a completely empty “economic plan” meant to suggest that Sidhu can grasp anything more complicated than a flame-broiled chicken. Here it is, hollow as a rotten log and undoubtedly crafted by a member of the team that at least has a grasp of the English language:
Harry Sidhu’s Action Plan for Economic Renewal
Creating Jobs
Reduce Government Bureaucracy—Streamline county operations to eliminate costly government red tape that prevents employers from hiring more workers.
Support Tax Relief—Lower the county’s excessive permit and business fees to help small businesses thrive and attract new companies to Orange County.
Encourage Investment—Support a reduction in capital gains taxes to increase private investment monies available for business expansion and new construction.
Expand Job Training—Create new apprenticeship and training partnerships with Orange County employers and universities to provide more opportunities for our youth. Organize County Business Fairs to help local residents find jobs.
Support Local Businesses—Comprehensively review the County Economic Development Strategy. Assist employers in finding new customer markets for their products and services.
Promote International Opportunities—Attract international trade and professional jobs by actively promoting Orange County as a preferred business destination for overseas firms.
Stop Lawsuit Abuse—Crack down on lawyers who file frivolous “class action” lawsuits. These lawsuits cost taxpayers and small businesses millions of dollars every year.
Reforming County Government
No Pensions for County Politicians—Oppose government pensions for county politicians. Harry has signed a binding pledge NOT to accept a pension as our County Supervisor.
Eliminate Wasteful Spending—Cut excessive salaries, travel and perks for county administrators. Require performance audits for all county agencies to identify budget savings.
Reduce County Pension Debt—Support financial reforms to reduce unsustainable county pension debt.
Oppose Government Bailouts—Public dollars should NOT be used to reward private mismanagement!
No Tax Hikes—Harry has signed a “No Tax Increase” Pledge. He believes North Orange County families are already paying too much.
As you can see, not a single specific item on the list. Just warmed-over campaign hash coughed up by his new campaign gouger, a John Lewis operative named Chris Jones.
When Hairball is done “supporting” a capital gains tax reduction (!) I’ve got to wonder how many jobs he will have created.
If you’ve ever seen a car wreck you know they always seem to appear to occur in slow motion. That’s Sidhu’s Crew to a T.
In a unanimous vote, Orange County’s GOP endorsements Committee endorsed Bruce Whitaker to replace Shawn Nelson in the two year seat, and Greg Sebourn for the four year seat. Pat McKinley squeaked by with a 3-2 vote, but insiders believe the $215,000 pension double dipper won’t pass muster when it comes to a vote of the full body.
Bruce entered political activism in 1992 when he became incensed at the largest federal tax increase in U.S. history and the largest state tax increase in California’s history under Governor Pete Wilson. He became active in the city of Fullerton the following year when he led a successful effort to recall a majority of the City Council and repeal unnecessary utility taxes. That repeal has saved more than $150 million for Fullerton taxpayers to date.
After the Orange County bankruptcy, Bruce Whitaker debated against tax proponents and authored numerous guest editorials which helped defeat a bankruptcy sales tax in 1995, resulting in more than $2.2 billion in California taxpayer savings.
Greg Sebourn is an FFFF blogger, a professional land surveyor and an educator at Santiago Canyon College. He’s relatively new to politics, but is very aware of the evils of redevelopment and the deficiencies in our current infrastructure.
Greg has some great ideas for saving money and improving public services in our city.
The other day we challenged retired police chief and $215,000 public pensioner Pat McKinley to put some real meat behind his dubious claim that he will “work to reform public employee pensions.”
Over the weekend we discovered a letter posted to McKinley’s website purporting to declare his position on pension reform. Exciting… until we read it. The letter actually commits to nothing and woefully understates the changes necessary to even begin correcting this problem.
Just say anything
Let’s run through Pat’s suggestions one by one. It’s important to note that McKinley’s letter says pension reform must contain ONLY ONE of the following:
Increase the amount contributed to the plan by Employee Contributions – Necessary, but wholly insufficient. While giving taxpayers some breathing room, demanding employees pay a little bit more does nothing to address the core issue, which is the unsustainable nature of pension guarantees when combined with the power of public employee union lobby. By itself, this change only slightly delays the pain.
Increase the amount contributed to the plan by Employer Contributions – Unbelievable. Increasing employer contributions is another way of saying we should raising taxes to pay for pensions. So now it would be safe to say that Pat McKinley wants to raise your taxes, but it’s really hard to believe he would write anything this dumb. For now, we’ll just assume that he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Slow the accrual of pension benefits by returning the formula to its previous level – Legally a change like this change can only be made for new employees, which would do nothing to address the massive unfunded liability that we have already accrued. Furthermore, it leaves the door wide open for future abuse when the unions become more powerful.
Slow the accrual of pension benefits by increasing the normal retirement age to reflect the longer life expectancies of our City employees – Same problem as above. The commitments we’ve made to current employees cannot be changed without a bankruptcy. The only lever we really have left salary and to a lesser extent, contributions. Cut salaries, raise employee contributions… or go broke.
Slow the payout of retirement benefits by lowering the Cost of Living Adjustment in retirement – The cost of living adjustment is about 2% a year. Reducing that, if it’s even legal in California, is hardly enough to sustain hundreds of public safety employee’s earning 90% of their final year’s pay for the next 30 years. And once again, there’s nothing to prevent another band of RINO’s from reinstating this benefit the next time CalPERS overstates its assets.
So what have we learned? McKinley has thrown out a bunch of half baked ideas to fool you into thinking that he wants pension reform, but it really boils down to almost nothing useful. And of course, even after writing this letter, McKinley has not committed to any pension reform.
Woefully inadequate
We’ll say it again: Taxpayer-funded defined benefit plans must come to an end. The private sector learned long ago that they are completely unsustainable and also unnecessary. All new employees should be given defined contribution plans, while current employees should be made to pay as much as possible towards their own retirement, in order to mitigate the damage caused by their own unions and CalPERS through deception and poor planning.
Or maybe Chris had a stranglehold on poor Dan’s nutsack. Hard to tell – there was so much distressed screaming, here.
It seems Dan Chmielewski took great affront (or, as is more likely, really pretended real hard) at 4th District Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s attempt to do something appreciative for US troops in battle zones – have folks send cigars over in honor of a couple of soldiers from OC who were killed in Afghanistan recently. It appears some soldiers really like to smoke a relaxing cigar.
Cue the hysterical emanations from Mr. PC.
Oh! The horror! Lung cancer (you don’t inhale cigar smoke, idiot), lip cancer, “moth” cancer, ovarian cancer, hungry children, wahhhhhhhhhh….
What a sad, pathetic excuse for a man.
Jesus H. these tools should just stick to regurgitating Voice of OC(EA) posts and call it a day.
On Saturday Ed Royce and the CRA hosted a forum for Fullerton city council candidates. I’ll spare you the agony of redundant and predictable answers to the not-so-relevant questions on illegal immigration, gun rights and abortion. As expected, all of the candidates stuck to the party line.
So let’s get down to the two major issues where the candidates diverged and that actually affect Fullerton: Public employee pensions and redevelopment abuse. Candidate positions were carefully filtered into the following matrix:
Pension Reform
Committed to serious pension reform
No commitment to pension reform
Redevelopment / Eminent Domain
Rein in redevelopment abuse and eminent domain powers.
Bruce Whitaker
Greg Sebourn
Barry Levinson
Use tax dollars to fund developer projects through redevelopment and allow eminent domain for taking private property when “necessary.”
Marty Burbank
Roland Chi Don Bankhead
Pat McKinley
The candidates split into two camps, with Don Bankhead leading his team of big-government RINOs who’ve never met a redevelopment boondoggle that they didn’t like. That’s not really surprising, given that Bankhead and McKinley benefit from the current system through enriched government pensions.
On the other end of the spectrum, a few candidates acknowledged Fullerton’s most serious problems and promised to take action and fight taxpayer abuse.
Overall Bruce Whitaker dominated the forum with his calm, well-reasoned responses. Barry Levinson took some good shots at Bankhead, for which he was reprimanded by the moderator but applauded by this blog. Greg Sebourn also targeted the current bureaucracy with facts and figures which caused Bankhead to become visibly aggravated. Roland Chi spoke well but avoided making any strong statements. Marty Burbank and Pat McKinley both wore funny hats and stumbled through their answers. Aaron Gregg was a no-show and Tony Fonte was a colorful guy but it was hard to follow his responses.
The dynamics of OC politics may have changed when DA Tony Rackaukas fired his supposed successor, Todd Spitzer, last week.
The guy with a million bucks in the bank had the DA heir apparent rug pulled out from under him, and now may be contemplating something that a lot of people will very well fear. And loathe. Another coupla Spitzer terms as an Orange County Supervisor.
Yes, indeedy, Spitzer was the Third District Supe from1995 through 2002 and drove everybody bonkers. Well, he may figure that controlling the DA’s budget and jerking the DA around at every opportunity is much more fun than being DA.
Of course this would be a major bummer for the Lewis/Pringle/Campbell troika that is grooming Orange’s dishwater mayor, Carolyn Cavecche to replace Uncle Bill.
Which is which?
Spitzer for Supe in 2012? Stranger things have happened!
Last week Pacific Coast Homes, a subsidiary of Chevron Texaco, filed suit against the city of Fullerton for it’s recent denial of the West Coyote Hills development project.
Down boy
The suit was preceded by a claim for damages of “$1,000,000 plus” in which Chevron says Fullerton is responsible for breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, violating the civil rights act, and a few other things expressed in legal mumbo-jumbo beyond the vocabulary of this blogger.
If you feel like wading through it yourself, here is the claim and the complaint:
So it looks like Chevron is attempting to apply pressure prior to bringing the project back in front of what will likely be a more favorable city council in 2011. I’ve also heard that the suit was preceded by Chevron making no-so-veiled threats towards a councilmember regarding future re-election possibilities. That’s just not very nice.
