Perspective On Public Safety Pensions

 A PROBLEM WITHOUT A VISIBLE SOLUTION
Public Employee Pensions, and the unfunded liability involved, continues to resonate around Costa Mesa.  The past council majority did virtually nothing about it.  They appointed a committee to "oversee" the issue.  They met frequently but offered no viable solution.  That committee will now be blended with the Finance Advisory Committee and the joint group will have a new, as-yet undefined, charter.

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
In the meantime, public employee pensions continue to be the topic of conversation nationwide.  I present to you this link, HERE, to an entry recently published by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs that discusses recent events in San Jose and Dallas.

CONSEQUENCES
Tinkering with pensions previously promised has consequences.  We saw that in a smaller scale with the CMPD when it wasn't really the pension issue alone that cause more than 50 officers depart - either through earlier-than-anticipated retirements of off to greener pastures at other jurisdictions - an event that was compounded when Jim Righeimer and Steve Mensinger refused to let then-chief Tom Gazsi recruit to fill those vacancies for most of a year.  That placed us in a hole we are still trying to dig out of.  And our crime rate continues to climb...

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I offer no solution to the pension unfunded liability issue.  I do offer this article for you as perspective - food for thought. 

THANKS...
And, I offer my thanks to the men and women of the public safety organizations that serve our city - the Costa Mesa Police Department and the Costa Mesa Fire Department - for their unwavering service and dedication to the residents of this city.

Study Says Chicago, New York Worst Financial Shape - Irvine Is Best!

HERE'S SOME EYE-POPPING NEWS!
A study by The Fiscal Times, HERE, titled City Fiscal Strength Index 2017, tells us that among the 116 large American cities with a population greater than 200,000 studied, Chicago is in the worst financial shape, with New York City the next worst.  And, in this study, Irvine is rated best!  In fact, there are several southern California cities near the top of the list.  Following Irvine, Fontana and Moreno Valley are at 2 and 3, Huntington Beach is 4, Santa Ana is 5 and Glendale is 6.

FASCINATING INFORMATION
This is a fascinating study, particularly since it deals with how those cities manage - or don't manage - their pension and other post-employment benefits.  It's not a long report and has a link to an informative chart for your review.

 FIVE FACTORS
Five Factors were used for this study:
1 - The ratio of a city's general fund balance to its expenditures (40 percent weighting).

2 - The ratio of its long term obligations (including OPEB but excluding pensions) to total       
government-wide revenues (30 percent weighting).

3 - The ratio of actuarially determined pension contributions to total government-wide revenues (10 percent weighting).

4 - Change in local unemployment rate (10 percent weighting).

5 - Change in property values (10 percent weighting).

It's informative to note that Chicago - the worst - currently has a crime rate that is astronomical.

TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO READ IT
Take a few minutes to read through this report.  Specific details of each city included in the study may be of interest to you, as will related reports for which there are also links.

CalPERS Chief Explains Rate Change

 WHY THE DISCOUNT RATE WAS DROPPED
Yesterday Marcie Frost, since July the Chief Executive Officer of CalPERS, the biggest public employee retirement system in the country, issued a commentary explaining the rationale behind the decision by the CalPERS Board last month to reduce the "discount rate" by a half percentage point over the next three years.

FACTS ARE FACTS
Regardless how you feel about public pensions - we know how Jim Righeimer feels, since he told us in no uncertain terms EXACTLY how he feels at the most recent City Council meeting when he said, "I will say this uncategorically, nobody, nobody who works in government should have a $200,000 pension check - period!" - and whether we should somehow go back on the contractual agreement we have with our employees covered by this plan, we cannot duck the reality of this issue.

THE OBLIGATION WILL GROW
Yes, a reduction of the discount rate means that member agencies, like the City of Costa Mesa, will have to make up the difference, which will increase the amount of the Unfunded Pension Liability - estimated by some to be right at $229 million today.  Although neighboring cities have begun to chip away at their pension liability, so far the City of Costa Mesa - under the dictatorial leadership of Jim Righeimer - has done virtually nothing to reduce it.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?  NOT MUCH...
Quite honestly, due to the circumstances beyond the control of the city, there seems to be not much that CAN be done short of Municipal Bankruptcy.  The Pension Oversight Committee, early in their tenure, heard all about that option from a workshop conducted by one of their members.  Righeimer, whose hatred for public employees and his envy for their pensions oozes from his pores as he speaks about it,  implied that he wants the employees to give back their benefits - to agree to take a lesser amount to soften the impact of the pension hit on the city coffers.

HERE'S THE STATEMENT
Here's the text of Frost's commentary, found in it's original format at this link.

CalPERS' Action on Discount Rate was a Prudent, Smart Decision

January 6, 2017

By Marcie Frost
CalPERS, Chief Executive Officer

Last month, the CalPERS Board of Administration took a decisive step to strengthen our fund by cutting what is known as the "discount rate" by a half percentage point over the next three years.

The move generated a lot of attention. Some praised it. Some complained that we didn't make a deeper cut. Others were considerably harsher. They charged that we had hid our 4-year-old policy, one that was very publicly debated in 2013 (PDF), of implementing any reduction over five years.

Of course, that's just straight-out wrong.

I took over as the Chief Executive Officer of the California Public Employees' Retirement System last October. I believe deeply that all of us, private and public sector workers alike, deserve financial security in our retirement. Let me explain why cutting the discount rate is so important - and let me tell you about our goals and our future and why we won't shy away from tackling the pension challenges ahead.

First, some background: The discount rate is what we assume our $304 billion in investments will return in a typical fiscal year, July 1 to June 30. It's a critical component of pension financial planning, because it’s used in calculating the amount of money those who are part of the CalPERS system contribute.

We lowered the rate because experts inside and outside CalPERS advised us that, the recent stock market surge notwithstanding, the long-term financial outlook had darkened. Achieving a 7.5 percent return – the rate in place since 2012 – was now far less likely than it was just two years ago when we last revisited it. Solid investment returns are the cornerstone of the CalPERS system: They pay for nearly two-thirds of every dollar we pay out in pension benefits.

But cutting the discount rate has real financial impacts for California taxpayers. We're acutely aware of that. The state, local public agencies, and school districts that make up CalPERS will have to contribute more money. So will many public employees, especially those hired after the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act took effect in January 2013. Liabilities too will grow before they level off and begin a downward trend.

---

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Those hard realities helped inform the CalPERS Board when it decided to reduce the rate over three years - to 7.375 percent immediately, to 7.25 in July 2018, and, finally, to 7 a year later. To sustain the CalPERS Fund for decades to come and pay the benefits they've promised their employees, our 3,000 employer partners knew the discount rate had to be reduced. But it was abundantly clear from our many conversations with them that they wanted to see the changes phased in. For their own budgeting purposes, they didn't want the rate to be cut dramatically in one fell swoop.

The reduction is a key step to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the fund and keeping in place reasonable retirement benefits that public employers need as they compete in the marketplace for talented workers. Others recognize the benefits of the decision as well. The credit-rating agency Moody's has called it a "credit positive" (PDF) for the State of California and many local governments.

We are a maturing pension fund like many across our nation. More money is going out in pensions than coming in, we have a low funded status, a decline in the number of active workers supporting retirees, and a low-return investing environment. These issues are real, but we are on the right path to full funding - and the Board's action on the discount rate has strengthened our efforts.

We've just started a comprehensive review of our assets and liabilities to make sure we're invested in the right places as we continue to pay the benefits our members have earned. We're working overtime to provide the public agencies and school districts with the clear financial roadmap they need to properly plan their budgets over several years. It will take time, but we have the discipline, confidence and the financial expertise to solve these issues for the next generation of public servants.

The real difficulty about this debate is not simply the data before us. It's the clear understanding that what we do impacts real lives - the lives of our 1.8 million members, the bottom line of the cities, counties, schools, and special districts that are the backbone of California, and, ultimately, the taxpayers of our state.

CalPERS is celebrating its 85^th anniversary this year of serving those who serve California. We intend to directly confront what's ahead so that we can provide retirement security for the next 85.

San Jose Dumps Pension Reform Plan

A VERY INTERESTING TURN OF EVENTS!
James Poulos in Cal Watchdog.com, HERE, reports today that the City of San Jose has decided to dump its pension reform scheme by successfully petitioning the courts to invalidate it's own ballot measure!

COPS LEAVING IN DROVES...
According to Poulos, who quotes Scott Herald of the San Jose Mercury News, San Jose was embroiled in rancorous negotiations with their police organization and officers were leaving in droves - sound familiar?  According to the article, the loss of officers to resignation and retirement had reached crisis proportions.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO COSTA MESA?
Take a couple moments to read the linked piece, then pause to think about how this relates to our current situation in Costa Mesa, where negotiations with the Costa Mesa Police Association has dragged on for a couple years and the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem have sued the men and women of the CMPD.

CALPERS NUMBERS WAY DOWN
This is fascinating news, particularly when you consider that CalPers recently announced that its returns for the fiscal year ending in June would be a dismal 2.5%, well short of the 7.5% on which their projections are based.

GET READY FOR RHETORIC...
How all of this news will impact Costa Mesa is unclear.  One thing is guaranteed, though - at least a couple local elected officials will, once again, sit on the dais, thump their chests and demand change - while doing NOTHING about it themselves.

Remaining Ballots And Other Stuff

NOBODY KNOWS...
I spoke with Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley this morning on the subject of remaining ballots to be counted, to clear up the myth that he, or anyone else, knows how many Costa Mesa ballots remain.  He confirmed, as reported last night, that there were just over 28,000 total ballots left to count beginning this morning.  Most of these are provisional ballots,  the ones that take the longest - verification, clarification, etc.  He does NOT know - nor does anyone else know -  how many of those are Costa Mesa ballots.  Anyone who tells you they know is just blowing smoke. 

CERTIFIED BY EARLY NEXT WEEK
Kelley hopes to have all ballots counted and the elections certified by Monday or Tuesday of next week.  From that point there is a five-calendar-day window for anyone to request a recount in a specific race.  It's cash on the barrel head to begin, at a daily rate yet to be determined.  History shows us that recounts result in very few changes - if any.  Kelley and his crew do a good job the first time around.

FIREWORKS
It looks like both Huntington Beach and Villa Park will be selling "safe and sane" fireworks next year.  Both cities had ballot measures that passed with around 60% of the voters in favor of fireworks.

YORBA LINDA REJECTS COUNCIL BENEFITS AND PENSIONS
One of the more interesting ballot measures this time around was Measure JJ in Yorba Linda.  Seems they are trying to make a statement about pensions, so the voters overwhelmingly - almost 86% - voted to deny health care and pension benefits to future City Council members.  Granted, this is a drop in the bucket of their over $70 million pension liability, but it does make a statement.  Funny, we don't hear that here in Costa Mesa, do we?  Nope, it's all about those "greedy union thugs" that work for us, keeping us safe and providing us with essential services. 

SEVEN HOURS TO GO...
So, we have just about seven hours remaining until the next tally report at 5 p.m. today.  Find something productive to do in the meantime....

Measure "O" - The Bogus Charter

PLENTY OF REASONS TO VOTE NO ON "O"

There are many reasons NOT to vote in favor of Measure "O", the most recent attempt by Mayor Jim Righeimer to take over complete control of our municipal government and solidify his position as a de facto dictator.  We'll enumerate them as time passes and we get closer to election day.

MOONEY'S COMMENTARY
However, I cannot miss the opportunity to direct your attention to Charles Mooney's current commentary in the Daily Pilot, HERE, which outlines the two sections of this very flawed document that, from my standpoint - and Mooney's too - are stakes in the heart of this measure - Sections 104 and 806.

PROBABILITY OF ABUSE OF POWER

Those segments provide the elected leaders of this city with unlimited power to do whatever they wish to do once this flawed document is adopted.  The kind of probable abuse of power provided by those sections is precisely why Costa Mesa should remain a General Law city, with all the protections from abuse that form of government provides.

READ IT YOURSELF

You will likely hear and read lots of rhetoric about The Charter as we head for the election in November.  It's hard to sort fact from politically-driven fiction.  So, I invite you to READ the document itself - it's not that complicated - and focus on Section 104 and 806.  I think you'll find Mooney's opinion accurate.  You'll find The Charter HERE on the City web site.  Additionally, if you go HERE you'll find other links that might be helpful to you, including direct arguments for and against The Charter and rebuttals to each.

A "STACKED" COMMITTEE

Keep in mind that when folks tell you that The Charter was created by a "blue ribbon" committee, that committee was stacked by Righeimer and his majority on the City Council with folks who he knew shared his vision for the takeover of the government.  I attended most of the Charter Committee meetings - I saw the interaction among the members and the bias they brought to the table.  I watched as facilitators Kirk Bauermeister and Mike Decker toiled to keep the meetings productive.  Attorney and former City Council candidate John Stephens - an opponent of The Charter - outlined the process and the result in a recent Daily Pilot commentary, HERE.

DON'T BE FOOLED...
So, don't be fooled by the smoke screen of Pension Reform - The Charter will do NOTHING to resolve our Unfunded Pension Liability!  Don't be fooled by the mantra of "Local Control" being chanted by supporters of Righeimer's latest Charter.  That is code for more power in the hands of the elected leaders, NOT the people of the community.

VOTE NO ON "O"!

Righeimer's Pension Solution

ONLY 10 VIEWS SO FAR...

Almost NOBODY has watched the Time Warner Cable Local Edition presentation from February, 2014 (Published on 2/25/14) in which Leslie Leyton interviews Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer about the current condition of our pension problem.

WORTH WATCHING FOR NEW INFO

This short tape - 4:30 long - is well worth the time it takes to watch it.  As you go through the tape you'll find that the mayor has new information for us.  Like, for example, the unfunded pension liability that he and his sycophants have been yapping about as being "$238 million" is, according to Righeimer, actually $600 million!

SOLUTION...
And, his solution for our city is to have all the current employees abandon their present pension plans and return to the old formula going forward.

BANKRUPTCY
He also mentions municipal bankruptcy during his little presentation. 

READ ALONG...
I've provided some snippets for you to listen for as you watch the tape.  Enjoy...

WE CAN'T FIX IT
Referring to the pension problem, "... what you can really do to fix it, which isn't really a lot.  The state has to fix this problem, clearly."

NOW $600 MILLION!
"Our city had a liability for pensions ten years ago of 200 million.  We now have a liability of 600 million."

SERVICE INSOLVENCY...
"...service insolvency - which is you just don't do things.  All of a sudden you're not fixing the streets, you're not fixing the curbs, you're not taking care of the flood control, the parks, whatever other issues you have.  It just doesn't get done."

"BK"
"Our city, and most cities in Orange County, we have a lot of money, we just do.  We may spend it improperly, but we still got money.  So, there will be other cities in the state that will file BK before we do, and in that process we'll finally get the state to solve the problem."

HOW LONG?
In response to a question about how long? "Probably five, six years at the most you're gonna have, maybe, another half dozen cities file BK."

EMPLOYEES MUST GO BACK
"What we need to have happen is existing employees to go back to the old pension plan going forward."

POLITICAL WILL
"It's not gonna happen until there's the political will..."

Take four and half minutes and watch the tape...

AND NOW, HIZZONER...

City Council Agenda Preview

FIRST MEETING OF FEBRUARY...
On Tuesday, February 4, 2014 the Costa Mesa City Council will meet in open session beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, preceded by a closed session starting at 4:30 in the 5th floor bunker conference room.  The full agenda can be found HERE.



...COULD BE A LONG ONE
The open session looks to be a long one, particularly if residents present themselves in Public Comments to address one or more of the current hot button issues swirling around town over the past couple days - Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's announcement that he will ask our City Attorney to set up a meeting with the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife to discuss the illegal Decomposed Granite path, and the recently-released 1,051 report on the 60th Anniversary Celebration finances.

CONSENT CALENDAR
On the relatively short Consent Calendar - about half the size of recent consent calendars - we find some interesting items on #3, Warrant #2508, HERE.

• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - Legal services for housing issues - $27,683.34
• Harbinger House - a permit refund (?) - $10,000.00
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - 2014 Memberships - To What? - $3.095.00
• Management Partners - Two entries.
•    Senior Center Org. Review - $3,313.00
•    Senior Center Reorg. Report - $16,457.00
• White Nelson Diehl Evans, Annual Audit - $8,323.00
• City of Huntington Beach - Helicopter Service, Nov. 2013 - $38,185.00
• Next Level Information Technology, Inc - Interim IT Director Services, 12/13 - $19,760.00
• City of Mission Viejo - IT Tech. Staff, 12/12 - 12/31/13 - $2,160.00
• FTOG, Inc - Interim Buyer, 1/6 - 1/17/14 - $3,510.00
• Intellibridge Partners, LLC - Purchasing Assistance - $6,595.50

NEW BUSINESS #1
Under New Business there are three (3) development-oriented issues.
Number 1 is Urban Master Plan Screening Request for a potential 33-unit live/work project at 765 W. 16th Street, HERE.  The staff is looking for feedback to determine if 1) Does it meet the Council's expectations for projects within the Urban Plan areas? and, 2) Does the Council have any comments on any requested deviations?

NEW BUSINESS #2
The staff is looking for direction on this one - a proposal to build 28 detached residential units on a piece of property on the southwest corner of Harbor Boulevard and Hamilton Street.  See image below.  The units proposed are a combination of live/work and traditional single family units.  You can read the staff report HERE.

NEW BUSINESS #3
The staff is looking for the Council to accept or deny a General Plan amendment to change the land use designation from General Commercial to High Density Residential to facilitate development of a 28-unit single-family detached residential project at 1239 Victoria Street.  Read the staff report, plus attachments, HERE.

REORGANIZATION OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
New Business #4 is a proposal, HERE, by CEO Tom Hatch to completely makeover the Development Services Department.  This is a VERY significant re-vamp of that organization and, according to the staff report, is necessary due to the significant increase in workload (and customer complaints) and a change in state law affecting the way CalPERS annuitants might be used as temporary contractors.  In a nutshell, the proposal eliminates three contractors and has a net increase of eight (8) Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions, taking the department to 35 people.  This proposal includes among the additions a new Assistant Director of Development Services to help Development Services Director/Deputy CEO Gary Armstrong manage the department.  The cost for this change would be over $700,000 annually.  The charts provided in the staff report show quite dramatically how the staff of this organization has been sliced in nearly half since 2009 while service demands have increased significantly.

OPEN SPACE MASTER PLAN UPDATE
New Business #5 is an update to the Open Space Master Plan of Parks and Recreation, HERE.  This document has not been updated since 2003 and was based on the 2000 census date.  Updated data from the 2010 census is now available and several projects have been completed, so it's time for another look at this plan.  The staff report indicates the need to hire a consultant for an estimated $200,000 through the 2014/2015 fiscal year.  You can read the Scope Of Work for that assignment HERE.

PENSION COST REDUCTIONS
The final item on the agenda, New Business #6, is recommendations by the Pension Oversight Committee on Pension Cost Reductions, HERE.  The proposals included in the staff report seem well-vetted and workable.  According to the Conclusion on Page 4 of the report, by implementing the recommendations gross annual savings of $489,776 can be achieved by prepaying the annual contribution for the Miscellaneous and Police Plans.  Using that savings plus the $1,000,000 budgeted in the last two years to make additional payments to the Fire Side Fund (see the report for a description of that fund) can completely pay down the liability on that fund seven years early, saving over $12 million.  The report says this plan is self-sustaining and could free up $500,000 in the City budget for other purposes.  Take some time to digest the report and the attachments.

HUNKER DOWN FOR A LONG ONE...
This meeting has all the earmarks of a long one... My prediction - we will be in Council Chambers until 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.  Bring a blanket, pillow and snacks....

Land Use Tops The Week Ahead

ANOTHER FULL WEEK
It looks like yet another busy week for Costa Mesa City government as we begin the last week of January, 2014.

NEW SMALL LOT SUBDIVISION RULES
Monday, January 27, 2014, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission meets for what looks to be a very short meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers.  There are only two public hearings on the agenda, HERE, a transfer of a liquor license and Item #2, HERE, the very significant changes to the Zoning Code regarding Small Lot Subdivisions.  This one should require some careful scrutiny because it will affect future development throughout the city.  It's going to be interesting to see how much play this gets in the Special Joint Study Session the next day.

CAFR AND PENSION REPORTS
On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 the Finance Advisory Committee meets at 3:30 in Conference Room 1A.  Normally I wouldn't mention this, but the agenda, HERE, has some interesting items on it.  They will have a presentation of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the last fiscal year and the Pension Cost Reduction Council Agenda staff report and recommendations.  This could be an interesting meeting and it will butt up against the next one.

GENERAL PLAN LAND USE STUDY SESSION
At 4:30 Tuesday, January 28, 2014 the Costa Mesa City Council and the Planning Commission will hold a special Joint Study Session on the General Plan Land Use Element, HERE.  This is a lengthy document and the attachments - Land Use Alternatives, HERE; Land Use Maps, HERE and Workshop Summary, HERE - make for some very interesting reading.  This is the proposed road map for land use in our city for the next 20 years and something most residents should have at least a passing interest in - but they won't.  So, I anticipate the small cadre of folks who have attended workshops and study sessions since this process began the middle of last year will also attend this meeting to see where the top elected and appointed officials will be taking this city.

(click on image to enlarge map)

 EAST 19TH STREET IMPROVEMENTS
And, on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 from 6 - 7:30,  there will apparently be a meeting at Kaiser Elementary School, 2120 Santa Ana Avenue, Costa Mesa,  for residents to hear about the planned East 19th Street Improvements.  You can read about it HERE.

Pension News From San Jose

A "MIXED" RULING
In an interesting bit of pre-Christmas pension news, a judge has ruled that San Jose - which like many cities around the state is wrestling with the skyrocketing unfunded pension liabilities - may NOT force current employees to contribute significantly more towards their pensions, but CAN cut employees' salaries to offset its increasing pension costs .  Read about it in an article from the San Jose Mercury News, HERE.

AN INTERESTING OBSERVATION
One of the very interesting paragraphs in that story reads as follows:
"City leaders may find it difficult to go through with the pay cuts, however. The City Council earlier this month approved 10 percent pay raises for cops, after police officers began fleeing the department for better-paying cities. The cop exodus has coincided with a huge increase in crime, above the California and national averages, while arrests have dropped in half in recent years."

IMPACT OF TOXIC WORKPLACE
Here in Costa Mesa we are dealing with a similar exodus, not only in the Police Department, but among the ranks of the so-called "miscellaneous employees", as well.  Folks are leaving due, in great part, to the toxic work environment created by the current elected leadership and the apprehension of attempts at draconian measures tried in San Jose, including possible municipal bankruptcy.

REPLACING LOST EXPERIENCE
As a result, we are losing hundreds of years of experience and institutional knowledge that cannot be easily replaced.  For example, it takes more than a year from the time we begin a search for a new police officer for that person to be vetted, hired and sufficiently trained before being unleashed on the populace.

STAFF SHORTAGES
Presently the City of Costa Mesa has nearly 50 vacant positions across the board from an authorized staffing strength that is already 25% smaller than in previous years. That gap will only widen as the adversarial labor negotiations proceed into the new year.  During a recent council meeting CEO Tom Hatch stated that, if expectations of the City Council are to be met, staffing levels MUST be increased - finally!  This deficiency is most pronounced in the Costa Mesa Police Department, where it is likely that early in the new year they will be able to place fewer than 100 officers on the streets and public safety will suffer.

HATCH AND CONTRACT ADMINISTRATORS
You may recall that, right after this council majority took over three years ago, I joked that their idea of a perfect city staff would be Hatch and a half-dozen contract administrators to oversee all the contractors, temps and consultants that replaced city staff.  At the time I was joking, but it looks like that's the road we are on.

OVERTIME, TEMPS AND CONSULTANTS
In the meantime, in order to get the work done, employees are burning out due to the significant overtime hours have been demanded, then criticized by members of the City Council for earning so much money!  And, it has become necessary to try to back fill some positions using expensive temporary employees and even more expensive consultants.  We recently saw a request for $200,000 in consulting support approved for the Development Services Department and will likely see something similar for Public Services - to temporarily fill the void created by a rash of retirements at the end of this year.

WHAT'S HIS PLAN?
I have no idea how Mayor Jim Righeimer plans to address the unfunded pension issue.  He's adamantly stated that he's "not sending one additional penny to Sacramento", so if he's not willing to find ways to pay down the debt, what are the alternatives?

SETTING UP MUNICIPAL BANKRUPTCY?
Well, we know that he's spending cash like there's no tomorrow - the $7.1 million budget surplus from the last fiscal year is now fully-committed, for example - and we also know that his hand-picked Pension Oversight Committee recently heard a Municipal Bankruptcy presentation by one of their members.  We also know, by his previous history and recent actions, that he is trying to "bust the unions" - destroy the employee associations that, for years, have been willing collaborators with city management - and has attempted to paint them as "union thugs".  I wouldn't be surprised if his move to Costa Mesa a few years ago was specifically planned so he could carry out that plan in a city he and his pals in the OC GOP hierarchy saw as easy pickin's.  And, is it a coincidence that one of our contracted attorney firms, Jones Day, has recently guided the City of Detroit into municipal bankruptcy?

WINNERS AND LOSERS?
The Mercury News article states that both sides won.  In actuality, I suspect both sides feel like they lost.  It will be interesting to see how that court ruling is perceived in other cities around the state, including Costa Mesa.  Meanwhile, in our city employee morale is at an all-time low, important projects are delayed because staffing levels are too low, public safety is in jeopardy,  controversial issues regarding Fairview Park and the 60th Anniversary Celebration costs linger and ferment and the current council majority continues to rack up millions in legal bills because they apparently consider litigation just another cost of doing business.

SORTING TRUTH FROM LIES
Next year we're going to be hearing a lot of rhetoric on the campaign trail.  The volume and intensity of the vitriol - probably from both sides - will be increased and it will become increasingly difficult to sort the facts from the political, self-serving fiction.  We're going to try to help with that problem by following the campaigns closely and reporting the issues as we see them.

STIFLING CRITICS
Members of the current elected leadership so dislike criticism of their actions that they've recently codified measures to quash critical comments during council meetings, thereby disenfranchising many voters.  They, and their mouthpieces, constantly refer to those who have a different view of issues as "haters" in an attempt to marginalize their views.

IT'S UP TO YOU
So, get some rest over the holidays and be ready to pay even closer attention to municipal issues next year.  Do some research on issues that are important to you, attend relevant meetings and participate in the debate.  Only you, the voters of this city, can make change.  It's up to you...

AN APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS DITTY
In the spirit of the season - it is Christmas Eve, after all - courtesy of Dr. Suess I leave you this morning with a little song dedicated to our mayor.  Enjoy...