Retirement
Fund Study Committee Recommendations and findings
On
May 5th, the Study Committee recommendations were presented to
council. There is possibly good news… and there was of course bad news.
The
good news? This committee of highly respected financial advisors may have
just finally…. Perhaps…. Maybe… disabused certain people that we do
not have some sort of gold plated pension plan.
The
bad news…. Nothing is going to help the fact that the fund is $646 Million
dollars short.
This
occurred for two reasons; first of course the automatic adjustments that
should have been voted on in 2000 did not occur… therefore, the plan was
under funded by between 10 and 12 percent per year. This meant we went into
the tanking of the stock market in a hole that kept getting deeper.
The
recommendation to fix this problem is that the city issue Pension Obligation
Bonds, raise everyone’s contributions, and…. Put it to the voters that
we do the whole automatic adjustment thing. Amazingly an idea that caused
much anguish only a few months ago is being embraced. Just like it was last
time. Will wonders never cease?
The
good news about this is that we would get the money into the fund where it
would not be subject to yearly council budget struggles. The bad news is
that it costs money to borrow money. So, while everyone’s contribution
rate would be going up, the city would get to claim the debt servicing as
part of their contribution. I
must admit that I was a bit confused over exactly what this meant. So I had
several people explain it to me.
Basically
what they all agreed it meant was that the amount of money needed to make
the fund whole would still be a 63/37 split, but the entire cost of funding
the POB would be paid for by the city. Good huh?? Well, not really. The
expected cost of debt funding is going to be around 9.36 percent. So… that
means that the city will get to claim the entire amount from their 63
percent. In other words, the inaction by the city which caused this mess
will reduce their real contribution to the fund to 53.61 percent, which gets
it much closer to the 50/50 split that the Mayor had wanted.
Additionally,
there would be the planned increase to both sides that is tentatively
scheduled to go into effect Oct 2005. Gosh, I sure hope we get a Cost of
Living raise this year… might make it easier to catch up on our bills
before this additional hit to our income in 2005.
Total
time table?
3-12-04
Council vote to ‘consider’ adopting the study committees
recommendations.
3-13-04
ERF Ditto
06-04
Present Plan to
Texas
Pension Review Board
05/06/07-04
Staff and outside Council prep of ERF plan amendments and ballot Language.
08-10-04
ERF Board vote to recommend plan amendments.
08-11-04
Council vote to forward plan to voters.
11-02-04
Voters vote on plan.
11-04
thru 02-05 Issue approximately $535 of Pension Obligation Bonds. Lower than
$646 previously noted due to changes in ‘Assumptions’ used.
05-05
thru 07-05 ERF adopts
12-31-04
Actuarial Valuation Report
10-05
Contributions for employees and city adjusted. (Ed. Note: This will be
almost certainly be up. From 6.5 for us to 9.27 percent)
Council Meeting
05-13-04
As expected the council voted
today to recommend this to the Employee Pension Board. The vote went fairly
smooth with only Mr. Hill and Mr. Rasansky voting against it. They felt that
the two percent difference between getting the loan and not getting the loan
was not enough to obligate the city to this amount of a loan. But
then Ms. Lill pointed out that these are two separate items, and that should
some miracle occur to city finances they can use the auto adjustment clause
change to the charter with direct funding rather than a Pension Obligation
Bond. The matter now goes to the ERB who hopefully will vote on it before
Stalnaker leaves and they no longer have a quorum.
Radio Free
Dallas
! - We
thank Gene Lantz from the KNON (89.3)
radio talk show ‘Worker’s Beat’
for inviting us to be on his show twice in the last six weeks. Lantz’s
show is scheduled every Wednesday at
8 a.m.
He invited us to discuss labor news from all over
and to put a local spin on things. We
were able to put in a few good words for all the civilian employees and
detail some of the problems we are having. We were also able to mention a
little about the problems that code enforcement is having with their new
quota system and being used as a revenue source, rather than as a department
allowed to work with and educate the citizens.
Rapid
Response Presentation - We will
have a special presentation from Nina Simpson from Rowlett about the need
for getting the message out during this next election on issues affecting
labor. The presentation will take place on Tuesday June 1st at
7 p.m.
after an abbreviated monthly meeting.
Pension
Chairman Retires
As
you may have heard, Randy Stalnaker is retiring. While he was not looking
for a new job, apparently one found him. He will begin working as the
contracts manager for the Upper
Trinity Regional Water District on May 17th. It is a very
exciting opportunity for him, one which he simply could not pass up.
Stalnaker
has worked tirelessly on our behalf for many years as one of the two
employee elected members of the Employees Retirement Fund. He has stood up
for his fellow employees in the face of fierce opposition, including the
infamous episode between him and former City Manager John Ware. And he has
worked tirelessly on both the local level as our elected representative and
as the president of TEXPERS (
Texas
public employee retirement systems) a voluntary
nonprofit educational association of ninety-four public employee retirement
systems. His expertise on the pension board will be sorely missed.
With his
departure from the city, and the two vacant council appointees the
retirement board will not have a quorum until his replacement is elected in
June. Apparently, there is a bit of a problem finding someone for council to
appoint who has the knowledge necessary and the time to commit to the fund.
So while bad, this could possibly work out for everyone’s good, as
Stalnaker said he would consider a council appointment if asked. So it is
possible that we might not have to lose his expertise.
Also in the
short term, Stalnaker is also willing to speak with the employee candidates
and share his views on who might be the best suited to replace him.
The civilian employees have been not only blessed with fifteen years
of Stalnaker’s efforts on our behalf, but also with his willingness to
continue to assist us even after he retires. We will all miss him, but know
he will do well in what ever direction his future takes him.
Injury
Compensation Problems
There
are a few problems with the extended compensation payments that people need
to be aware of. The first problem is that in order to receive it now you
MUST have a doctor approved by Ward
North America as your primary physician.
Let us see a show of hands from anyone who thinks that a City Doctor
is going to have your best interests at heart? This is of course assuming
that the City Doctor is anywhere near where you live. Apparently there are
not very many of them. Of course, should you decide this doctor is not right
for you, you have a very short window where you can petition Ward North
America for permission to change Doctors. Who knows… you might even
receive permission in the allotted time span. Of course, you might also hit
the lottery. Hey! It could happen.
The
second problem is that as your primary physician, the City Doctor, would be
the person who is the primary decision maker on your level of impairment.
Now if you have a minor injury, this is not too much of a problem… but if
you are seriously hurt, you do not want anyone making these decisions who
are more concerned with retaining their job with the City and Ward North
America than with your well being. Rather, you need a doctor, who is your
advocate, who knows how to combat all the tricks used by insurance companies
to keep their compensation payments low.
That is worth far more in the end that a few extended compensation
payments which are later deducted from your settlement anyhow.
Cost of Living vs. Merit Based Raise in 2004
Some of the
current budget material mentions a merit based pay increase. While I realize
that council is still in the planning stages with the budget, I would like
to point out a few problems with this.
First, my
expenses are not merit based. My school taxes, car insurance, fuel bills,
medical costs and mortgage payment go up regardless of what my supervisor
thinks of me. This is not to say
that he is not a wonderful boss, but not all employees are so blessed.
When my
medical deductible was raised last year, it was not a merit based
percentage. It was across the board. So, why after four years of stagnant
pay, income decreases health premium and deductible increases, are we even
considering a merit based increase? Putting aside the fact that everyone’s
bills have gone up over the last four years. Let us look at the merit
program the civilian employees currently have.
It is of
course not the same merit program as the one enjoyed by the police and fire
department uniformed employees. Not to mention of course that theirs has not
been suspended for the last few years. Their merit program is step raise
based not some arcane sliding scale, dependant upon the whim of the
supervisor and the current fiscal state of the department they are in.
Rather than being a vehicle to raise moral, our current civilian merit
system causes much grief and dissention.
I have
friends who used to work in Courts. One year they were told, quietly of
course, that no one in the department would be eligible for their full merit
increase. Why? Because the department needed the money in another area and
could not fully fund the merit program that year.
I know a
gentleman in water who was incensed, because even though he worked very hard
all year and was rated as an excellent employee, supervisors on the other
shifts were rating ALL of their employees as high superior, and those
employees would be getting much larger raises than he would be.
And finally,
let me point out that the current merit system is unfair
to older employees, since it uses a sliding percentage scale based on
“zones”.
If I have
done an excellent job all year, why is that worth less of a raise? Newer,
less experienced employees get a higher percentage raise for the same
effort, due to their zone position. Does that mean my expenses are not going
up as much as theirs? Of course not. It just means that as an older, more
experienced employee my efforts are deemed to be less valuable.
Talk about your morale booster!
The current
merit system penalizes all of us for the failure of a few supervisors who do
not use the tools that are available to them to correct under performing
employees. I do not
think it is a fair means of determining merit raises in general, and
certainly not in place of several years of missed cost of living increases.
All
employees have suffered; all employees have seen their income eroded. All
employees have seen their expenses increased and all employees deserve to be
treated the same.
We need an
across the board increase, not some decisive, arcane, convoluted merit based
raise which is going to lower morale even further. I ask that you consider
granting ALL civilian employees a decent Cost of Living increase this year.
– M. Frey – City Council Address
April 21, 2004
Suggestion
Contest
Replies
What
do you think we need to do to encourage employees to join the union? The
following are suggestions from our members. Got an opinion on these ideas?
Call, email, post on the message board or write us… Here are a few
suggestions we have received J
The best way
to get people to join is to have their friends and co-workers explain to
them how the union works and encourage them to join. I think we should
encourage the people who recruit a new member by giving them a cash reward,
the more people they convince to join, the more cash they receive. We might
want to try this as a temporary program to see if it encourages our members
to go out and spread the good word. – P. N.
In order to
get things done, you must have a strong voice and as they say there is
strength in numbers. The more who join and stay the stronger our voice gets.
The problem is there have been a few people who join just to use the
services offered by the union. This is what the services are for, but some
people only join if they have a problem and then get out and wait until they
have another problem before joining again. This does not help our cause and
uses up resources that members who have joined and stayed are paying for.
Therefore, it is my suggestion that you must be a member for 30 days before
you can use all the services offered by the union. This would stop or at
least slow down the people who join only because they have a problem at that
time. This might encourage people to join before they have a problem. - D H
Amusing
Word
is that the certain parties are upset with people saying that we have not
been granted a raise since the beginning of the century. But… it is true.
The last raise we were granted
was in October 2000. The fact that it was delayed until April 2001 does not
mean that we were granted anything in this century. J
May
Meeting Notes
Discussed
Liz Barlett assisting more so that our books, taxes and grievance employee
payroll will be in sync.
This is important since getting anything wrong with the state or feds
can get us into a world of trouble.
Discussed
grievances and how they can better serve the member, and what changes could
and should be made. This information was relayed to Scott Newland our lead
grievance rep on Wednesday.
Discussed
a letter to be possibly published in the Dallas Morning News at the cost of
$6000.00 ish. Much discussion ensued as to whether an expense of this
magnitude should be specific to only one department or should it address
concerns and problems that face us all. Work will continue on this topic
with a work group meeting this month.
http://www.employeeblues.com
Shirts,
mugs, clocks, mouse pads… gear for the ‘gruntled employee.
J
WHAT’S
YOUR OPINION?
