| Item 7. Time to fix the city, we're broke |
Attend in person, 2212 Beach
Boulevard, 2nd floor. Or, view on local television or live feed Pacificcoast.TV, (formerly pct26.com). The meeting begins at 7 p.m., or shortly there following. City council updates and archives are available on the City website.
City council agenda, 4/14/14.
Closed session, 5:30 p.m.
CA government code 54956.8. Conference with real property negotiator to discuss price and terms of property APN 023-073-050 and 080, City of Pacifica and Dave Colt.
CA government code 54957.6. Conference with labor negotiator. Agency Negotiator: Glen Berkheimer. Firefighters Local 2400, Battalion Chiefs Local 856, Department Directors Local 350. Wastewater Treatment Plant Employees Local 856. Miscellaneous Local 856. Managers Local 350. Police Officers Association, Supervisors, Management Local 350.
Open Session, 7:00 p.m.
| Item 7, attachment 2. I'm hiding out. |
1. Approval of disbursements, fiscal year 2013-14, 03/07/14 - 04/02/14.
3. Continuing 4/7/10 proclamation of a cliff erosion at 380 and 400 Esplanade Avenue.
4. Resolution disposal of certain obsolete City documents and papers.
5. Resolution designating staff to serve as board member and alternate to Municipal Pooling Authority of Northern CA.
Special presentations
a. North County Prevention Partnership Daly City/Pacifica Coalition
b. Earth Day
6. Appointments of two (2) citizens to City of Pacifica Planning Commission; and two (2) citizens to the Beautification Advisory Committee. Applicant Listings.
7. Development of the 2014-15 Budget. See projected Attachment 2_LTFP 2014-2019. (Also see Staff Report Printout, and Attachment 1_LTFP Expense Projection Assumptions).
Posted by Kathy Meeh
24 comments:
Uh oh, they're warming up the shredder.
$35,000,000 million for pensions.
Bravo!
802 Magnificent, isn't it?
Open and transparent City Council. Open door policy.
Council meeting adgenda package comes out on Friday before the Monday meeting.
If you have wondered why council seems so out of touch with the issues, they don't read these. They are only concern sitting blowing their own horns telling us they went to this meeting, or that meeting, and how they are big power brokers with abag.
The City promised they would put out the city council meeting agenda package a week before the meeting, with additions to follow.
Looks like they are back to their old tricks.
820 Ehhh Pacifica City Councils. If you've seen one, you've seen them all.
1:15
High 5!
Staff report Page 57
Staff is investigating our options of using internal borrowing to "smooth" pension payments through the end of the decade so that our cost would be approximately $2 million annually.
The money would come out of the waste water treatment fund and be used to pay off the Pension Bonds.
Rob Peter to pay Paul ?
The last time the Council borrowed money internally it was not paid back and the City taxpayers lost $5 million when the State took over the redevelopment agency.
Haven't we seen this movie before?
Different cast playing the same old shell games to avoid complete collapse.
Tom 252, that's the bomb! Borrow from the WWTP reserve to pay city pensions. Is that even legal, or legal without a vote?
Here's that Full Agenda Packet, 4/14/14, 61 pages. Page 57 bottom, 2014-15 Budget Development, "Internal refinancing of the Pension Obligation Bonds".
Thanks for your careful reading and review. In the future I'll post the Full Agenda links with the Agenda articles. (Anyone opening these, it may take a while for the pdf to open, be patient.)
Kathy
Is it legal? I really don't know. I believe the City Attorney is looking into that issue and will report back to the City Manager.
I believe the intent is to do this as part of the budget process without bringing it to the voters
Good catch Tom. This is not going to fly. We also have to worry that they will float another bond for upco 618ming shortfall. I don't believe any public vote is needed.
How can this be legal? Doesn't using sewer funds for purposes other than those for which they were collected contradict the CA Supreme Court's Bighorn Decision of 2006? That's the decision that stopped Pacifica and other CA cities from legally looting these types of funds to pad their general fund when they ran out of money or had a pet project. In Pacifica this had gone on for years for as much as $750K per year. Of course it meant no money to maintain the sewer system but who needs a functioning sewer system anyhow?
Good eyes Tom Clifford! This was buried--so much for all that open communication. Yup, your mission, city attorney, is to quietly find a loophole for council.
Riddle me this: if the sewer gang has 2 million to lend then they are charging us too much for our poop. What will The Children of The Earth Angels going to say about that?!
The gorilla in the room is pension expense is wrecking the City budget. We will never have enough money to pay these astronomical pension costs. Current payments as a percentage of salary: Police pensions: city pays 27.85% employee 12.00%. Fire pensions: city pays 22.25%, employee 9%
The city pay portion escalates over next 5 years and employee pay portion is frozen.
Council should bite the bullet and reverse the pension payment scale? Make employees pay their own pension? Or put them in a 401K like everyone else? Fix these ridiculous pension costs and our budget "deficit" is cured without any tax increase or budget gymnastics.
Hutch
I think sewer bonds and health and safety bonds, do not need a public vote. Any other bond needs a public vote. I don't remember if the taxpayers voted for the pension bond or not?
Anyone remember?
The Bighorn action does prohibit using sewer fees for paying staff butt does it also prohibit pensions? Tom, Lionel if you are out there that is the question of the day.
7:32
Who gave the city employees, police and fire these pensions? City Council did?
Had we had some revenue producing projects around town, we would have money to pay these costs of doing business as a city.
Todd
Butt vs But.
The butt of all jokes?
I am going to get the Riptide Grammar and Spelling Police after you.
uh oh.............
Bray is back.
Under Bighorn there are three exceptions that would allow transfer of funds from a utility(sewer) account to the general fund:
The first two involve either repayment of a loan from the GF to the utility or voter approved taxes. These do not seem to apply. However, the third exception may provide a loophole. It involves reimbursement to the GF of the cost of services provided to the utility by a city or other agency. Previous appellate court decisions suggest these costs can include providing police and fire protection to a utility and the wear and tear on roads and streets by a utility. Could it also include debt service costs for pensions? City attorney in charge of loopholes is probably working on that question right now.
This might be the loophole the city needs to allow this transfer of sewer funds to the GF. I wonder if they did it before? Will it become a regular thing? Who needs a sewer system when we have pensions to pay. We live to pay those pensions!
He is limited to 1 hour on the internet every day.
832 Other than a hoped-for expansion of one hotel, there are no revenue-producing projects in our future, but those pensions will go on forever. No way out of them. Even the two-tier system the city has applied to some new hires is too little too late. Salaries rise, costs rise, infrastructure failing, revenue flat. We all know what that scenario means in the real world. Lucky that Pacifica has us taxpayers to come to the rescue again and again.
"Staff" believes increasing fees would help. "Staff believes cutting the Resource Center will help. "Staff" believes robbing Peter to pay Paul is an option.
Do you think "Staff" would ever suggest reducing labor costs including pensions?
Taxpayers are screwed as long as councils information comes from staff. We need a budget Tsar that will tell it like it is.
Hutch, that's called a bankruptcy judge!
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