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San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Funny Johnny... It my understanding NO ONES contract has been voided in Vallejo. Two labor groups have NEGOTIATED new contracts and two others are still working to find resolutions with the city. If resolution does not happen it's still UNCLEAR what Judge Michael McManus will do... but, he has said he wants a settlement. Generally speaking labor contract terms all change from time to time. There's nothing unusual about this or the process of give and take. In good times they go up, in bad times they'll come down. Some equate them with the equities markets, it goes up and down. An incredible amount of media is focused on the size of the monetary losses, i.e. the short term results. However, we all know systems like SDCERS and CALPERS have long term horizons. Pointing out day-to-day fluctuations gets sound bites that stirs a frenzy, all contrived to distract. I believe Don will admit, over the long term 30, 40, 50 years, equities have been a sound and viable investment vehicle. What must change: the belief that we'll only have good return years. Our pension managers must not succumb to the pressure from political interest to use these funds as their personal piggy banks. Speaking of the market...Since March 9th, the stock market is up 21% as of yesterday, 3/26. If we took a snapshot of the pension systems today, their funding ratios would be higher then on March 8th. Is the 20% growth over the last few days a true reflection? Of course not. That's why the system's value is officially released once a year for an annual comparison.— March 27, 2009 6:20 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Don Had dinner tonight at Donovans in LJ... thought of you and 1200 posts ...the offer is still open should you get back to SD for putting up with all of our dietribe. Best Just Wondering.... you know how to reach me..— March 26, 2009 10:12 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
BUT, when the city goes BK, which it will, it is going to be a moot point. ================================================== Hey SurfJohn When Orange County went "BK" in 1994 did the employees loose their pension benefit?— March 26, 2009 10:09 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Johnny, Don has it half right when he said we have a controversy. The part he missed was your inability to keep the comment in context. I said, "THUS, no unilateral change in the DROP program as it applies to current employees would be lawful." Guess you just don't understand the words current or the concept of vesting. So to be clear just for you, current employee who have vested rights to DROP. I never made mention about current employees not vested in SDCERS or DROP. Regarding vesting of DROP ... Judge Barton believes it's a vested right. The SDMC says it's vested pension right for those hired before July 2005 or March 07 depending on who you want to believe. And the State Supreme Court has ruled in the past vested pension benefits cannot be destroyed once they have vested.— March 26, 2009 5:45 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
So you're saying past performance is not necessarily an indicator of future performance? I'll agree with you on that when it comes to investments, but courts, for the most part, tend to more conservative on these issues. This is clear is in the State Supreme Court rulings on pension RIGHTS. Yes, the Feds are different, but the trend still remains, and no judge likes being overturned. What continues to interest me, is the case in Vallejo. Will it set a new precedent? Maybe, but when reading accounts of the Courts actions so far, it clear this judge is doing everything in his power to get the sides to find a resolution through some sort of mediation or negotiation. It appears he DOES NOT want legislate from the bench...we'll have to wait and see.— March 26, 2009 11:07 a.m.
The Padres’ Mystery Lineup
Have to second Fred on that one. While Bruce was a city councilman he did begin the processes that led to a waiver on secondary sewage treatment require by the EPA... Scientist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography still have their doubts on the usefulness of these treatment processes today. His lead save the taxpayers of San Diego BILLIONS in unnecessary costs.— March 26, 2009 10:57 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Additionally, The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act makes crystal clear the City’s obligation to meet-and-confer with public employee unions before it makes any unilateral change in existing legislation that affects the wages, hours or terms and conditions of employment of its employees. As held by the California Court of Appeal in Vernon Firefighters v. City of Vernon (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 802, 813, “Section 3504.5 Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires that the City give ‘reasonable written notice’ to organizations such as respondent Union, of any proposal for legislative action directly related to matters within the scope of representation.” Moreover, “Section 3505 further requires the City to ‘meet-and-confer in good faith’ with representatives of the union, concerning ‘wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment’ of the personnel represented by the union.” Section 3504 of the MMBA defines the “scope of representation” to include “all matters relating to employment conditions and employer and employee relations, including, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” It cannot be disputed that the scope includes the pension rights of active employees. As stated in Betts, “[a] public employees’ pension constitutes an element of compensation, and a vested contractual right to pension benefits accrues upon acceptance of employment. Such a pension right may not be destroyed, once vested, without impairing a contractual obligation of the employing public entity.” 21 Cal.3d at 863. In Vernon, the court held that a unilateral change of legislation by the City of Vernon violated Section 3505 of the MMBA: “The Rule in California is well-settled: a City’s unilateral change in a matter within the scope of representation is a per se violation of the duty to meet-and-confer in good faith. ‘[T]he courts have not been reluctant to intervene when a public agency has taken unilateral action without bargaining at all. In such situations, courts have been quite zealous in condemning the unilateral action and in granting appropriate relief.’” Vernon Firefighters v. City of Vernon (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 802, 823. THUS, no unilateral change in the DROP program as it applies to current employees would be lawful.— March 26, 2009 7:15 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Johnny-Surfpuppy, You made my point... Orange County and their lawyers didn't even try to discharge the pension obligations. They KNEW and I suspect their lawyers counseled the writing was already on the State Supreme Court's wall. The Justices and Court made it clear the sanctity of pension promises made is an overriding concern. As the Supreme Court stated 60 years ago in Kern v. City of Long Beach (1947) 29 Cal.2d 848, 853: “Although there may be no right to tenure, public employment gives rise to certain obligations which are protected by the contract clause of the Constitution, including the right to the payment of salary which has been earned. Since a pension right is ‘an integral portion of contemplated compensation’ it cannot be destroyed once it has vested, without impairing a contractual obligation.” [CONTINUED]— March 26, 2009 7:07 a.m.
Unaudited Audits
Why wouldn't the City explain the circumstances to SEC... something like ...over the last few years we have not been very competent, but we're trying to do better...may we please have a two week extension??? Taxpayers get extensions from the IRS all time for filing their paperwork... Mr. Faulconer needs to find his backbone!— March 25, 2009 3:30 p.m.
The Padres’ Mystery Lineup
I for one can't understand the reason for NOT disclosing who owners are and their percentage of ownership. Public money has been and is being used to make Petco Park available for use in one form or another. Public financing of the bonds that built Petco Park will be paid for years to come. Non-disclosure, if nothing else, gives the impression somebody has something to hide. In addition, when the Padres Executive Counsel and VP Katherine K. Pothier, works to develop novel interpretations of the law, just to keep ownership information under wraps, ALARM BELLS should be ringing loudly at City Hall.— March 25, 2009 12:49 p.m.