February 8th, 2010
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1. THE UTILITIES COMMISSION W-2s
The utilities commission refused to provide its W-2s except in a form that is designed to be as difficult to work with as possible. The material that was supplied cost $38.75 since they claimed that it took someone being paid $18 an hour an hour and a half to make about 150 magic marker lines through their social security numbers. We figure an idiot could do the job in less than 45 minutes. That is four scratches a minute. Do you wonder why they have high rates? Your five year old nephew could have done the job in half the time. They also scratched out some addresses, pensions and all sorts of other information that is supposed to be available to the public.
The prime architect of this farce the Shadow believes is their current lawyer who is being paid about $100,000 a year plus another 45% in pension and benefits. We believe he told them that they should just claim they cannot manipulate the data in the computer and that they could not send it as digital E-Mail in a spread sheet. We pulled their tail by telling them the Shadow would send a technician to show them how. Then we were told it would be E-mailed. Then, no it would not.
They obviously lied because they then sent the Shadow a list alphabetized by first names. Yup, alphabetized by first names. That would be like organizing your grocery shopping list by the last letter of each item you wanted to buy. On the top would be a bananA and TequillA, in the middle of the list chickeN, and near the end would be beeR.
We were really impressed with one entry where they struck out the name of the employee. Pay someone $56,000 and do not tell anyone who got the money? They also do not want you to know what pension plan the employee has joined. Just for fun, why do they not want you to know where Rodi lives in Sugar Mill. We never heard he was in law enforcement.
Except for having the highest rates in the area and overpaying their personnel, they seem to excel at nothing. We will forward this nonsense to the Governor’s office so that he can see how public officials treat citizens of our fair State.
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(Edited for grammar and punctuation)
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2/4/2010, 2:38 pm
MRiptide
I'd like to begin a discussion that is more pertinent to all of us and that's property taxes. I just read Skeeter's blog on the NJ's website about the fate of next year's property values and taxes. He makes a lot of sense to me. I will try to reiterate. SOH was intended to curb government spending while protecting the homeowner from being taxed into poverty. The local governments ignored this voter mandate and used the loophole of taxing non-homesteaded property and commercial property well beyond TRIM to continue the uncontrolled spending rather than being content with an annual increase in 3% of taxable property value. Then we passed Amendment 1 and they still don't get it. If we could find a way to stop or limit the cash flow to local government they wouldn't have the bucks on projects that are not core services.
2/6/2010, 10:10 pm
Fuzzy Math Pension Plan
The fire and police pension plans hired their own lawyers and financial advisers. The plan projects 8% a year returns and makes unrealistic assumptions about the city's employee churn rate. The plan also doe not take into account that the last few years the city gets a promotion that doubles their salary which has the effect of giving them a 100% pension. The way the plan works is that it takes how much in made in the last few years to determine what you receive. The fire and police departments take turns getting promoted to high pay positions just before they retire. This is the real secret of the problems with the plans. The city should not be promoting people just before they retire or give them a lot of overtime in the last few years they work for the city. That is why the plans are sunk. Hopefully, the new auditors will report the real condition of the plans.
2/6/2010, 8:52 pm
Mr. Ed
To Frogger;
The City is currently paying 34.6 percent of salary into the City's FF Pension Plan. ( this is in the City's latest Audit, 2008, page 66)
The County is currently paying about 20 percent of salary into the State's FF Pension Plan.
So to answer your next question;
According to the City latest Audit, FD payroll covered under the city's pension plan was $2,626,590 ( as of 2007)
So the difference between the City's Pension Plan vs the States Pension Plan is a Taxpayer Contribution of approx. $920,000 vs $577,000...
Or, the City's Plan costs us $343,00 MORE than the States Plan.
And I'm sure this difference is even more today, since they've all received step increases and COLA's since 2007, which means covered payroll has increased.....and the State's Pension Plan contribution rates for FF and Police Officers actually went down slightly since 2007.
In the meantime, our FF's Pension Plan Trust Fund has lost millions. To say nothing of their "assumed" 8 percent rate of return, that they didn't make either....
So, in other words, all the indications are.... that this Pension Plan of theirs is one BIG SNAFU that our City Commission has to address.
But, probably won't, considering thier past performances......
NOTES
1. TAXPAYERS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO KNOW WHO IS IN THE DEFERRED RETIRED OTIONS PROGRAM (DROP)
We asked the City Clerk for the names of the fire department employees who were currently in DROP. They receive their regular salary and benefits which includes the day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday. However, their retirement is calculated as of the day they opt for the program. They are double dippers. You would think we taxpayers would be entitled to know who these double dippers are and how much we are paying them extra under this program as double dippers. Not on your life. Here is the response from the Human Resource Director. LINK We think that she will do anything to find a way to deny information about employees pay, pensions, and benefits.
2. SAME OLD, SAME OLD
Certainly there are themes that have been developed in the Shadow over the last three years. Since the New Smyrna Beach Commission does not seem to get the message, the message must be repeated. We have not caused the political deafness that has embraced the electorate. We did not lose the message of Abraham Lincoln that the government was “of the people, by the people, and for the people (Gettysburg Address).” So it is for the Shadow to shoulder on and comment on the failure. Since hope springs eternal in the heart’s of all men, we know that it is only a question of time before we will see results. Look, the County just got rid of some of the needless jobs at the fire department. Who would have thought that they could figure a way to protect the taxpayers for a change?
Make government inexpensive. Reduce the City budget to no more than it was in 2003 adjusted for inflation and minimum growth;
Jump start planning to encourage the type of building boom of affordable condominiums and retirement homes;
Buy nothing that the City does not need for its immediate needs and choke off the spigot for the purchase of needless land acquisitions like Esther Street and Dunn Lumber;
Charge a fair rent at market value of all City leases;
Sell off at public auction all land not needed directly for operating the City efficiently; and
Start the process for consolidation of City Services with those of the County to end high management costs and redundancy.
The emphasis must be to immediately put in place the formula that worked for the City from 1988 to 2003. Cheap housing, fair eats, and low taxes. Retire here, buy your second home , and enjoy the charm of our beaches, the entertainment of Disney, and the soft touch of low taxes that gave you enough money to spend in our stores and bars.
The Shadow has tempered its expectations for the new Mayor. Let’s face it: his performance do date has been less than stellar. Several of his votes have indicated a lack of growth into a leader who can control his run away staff and its head strong and manipulative City Manager. The Commission unanimously signed a contract with the police department where:
(1) there was no underlying staff work ,and
(2) the contract was not presented with cost data.
This action suggests to the Shadow that no matter what is in the Mayor’s 100 day plan, or the Shadow Plan above, there should be no expectation that anything will be accomplished. So wearily we march along and hope for the best. Unfortunately the Target store slogan, changed a little, comes to mind. “Expect nothing, get less”.
THE ECONOMIC PLAN
To have an economic plan one has to understand what there is to fix. Here in New Smyrna Beach we have broken both of the main basis of our economy:
Tourism, which is based in turn in large measure by having a low cost functioning government with out large taxes on the tourists, and
Low cost retirement accommodations, including condominium beachside construction, which attract retirees who cash monthly pensions and4 Social Security checks which they can spend on themselves and us because they are not paying high taxes and exorbitant utility rates.
In order to produce the right atmosphere we must have lean government, an efficiently run hospital that does not suck $21, 000,000 a year in excess taxes for indigent patients, and school taxes that should not grow regardless of whether the enrollment grows or diminishes.
THE PLAN
DEAR PAM
As we have stated in the past, we realize that the City Manager is limited in the resources available to her for pursuing cost reduction projects, so we have decided to help her out and provide draft letters for her review. As we have said, this will free her up for important things, like dealing with all the serious problems of the police and fire department pensions.
Dear Mayor Barringer:
Please do not screw up my plan to give all City employees a free ride for another year. Carol and I put this in play under Sally and, if nothing else, we owe it to Sally as a legacy to make sure that we take care of her commitments to the rest of the City Employees. These employees are our friends, and they need the extra money more than you do. Like, look at John Yancey. We might abolish the position of his wife who is the Recreation & Parks Director. John’s Salary is only $67,000, plus 45% in a benefits package. I think Kahlid has already wrapped up the deal to buy her out and we will let you in on the skinny later.
By the way, we are lucky to have Carol Hargy back as Human Resources Director. She understands that if we reduce our employees pay, pensions, or benefits they will immediately quit and take a job at another municipality. Remember only 300 applicants showed up looking for each entry grade fireman job in Dade County last year. Carol knows that high paying jobs are there for the picking. So do not listen to a few disgruntled taxpayers. Carol and I are going to take care of our friends.
PAM
REAL GOLF COURSE LOSSES:
GET A MANAGEMENT COMPANY
We asked a couple of experts to analyze the preliminary profit and loss statement supplied to us a month ago. We thought that it needed more analysis than the Shadow could bring to the table. Here is the response.
Dear XXXX,
The report shows their income to be 72.3% of what was budgeted or short by
$477,967. The actual expenses were 89.2% of the budget which subtracted
$185,422 from the budget deficit in revenue.
The golf course lost $290,000+ in the operation. They have the same problem
[as all golf courses] with the economy and the weather. However, they could have been profitable with the revenue they have if they were managed by a third party.
They are paying a tremendous amount for the city benefits package and the
guaranteed raises given to government employees. They could not adequately
react to the economic downturn even though they did cut their expenses by
11.8%.
You may want to ask about the mid-year mandated budget reduction given by
most cities last Spring. We were required to reduce our budget by 10% ……….
[two golf courses his company manages]
My best argument to the city for third party management would be the
benefits package and the inability to react to the problems with speed.
(signed)XXXX
Another golf management guru responded:
.....The easy answer is the employees should work for a management company not the city (you get rid of most of excessive overhead). 2nd you do not let the customer determine the price to play. 3 rd this is not a club (it is a city park) therefore, no memberships. We believe that the total loss for the city including debt service is well over $500,000. That could be over $1,000,000 in the last two years. Governments cannot run businesses, especially in hard times.
The losses at the Municipal Golf Course from a review of the day to day balance sheets are at least about $300,000 this year. Then there is the loss from the failure of the membership to payback the $3 million or $4 million dollar loan as promised to the City Commission. Did the Shadow not hear Commissioner Hathaway say that he was only voting for the renovation loan for the golf course based on the representations that it would be paid back? And then read the Wall Street Journal article (January 25th, front page) about the losses in the golf industry, particularly now that Tiger Woods is on vacation. There will be more red ink next year and forever.
REDUCING THE COUNTY STAFF PAYROLL FOR THE COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT BY 10% TO 20%. ABOUT 30 EMPLOYEES! THE FIREFIGHTERS UNION HAS LEARNED HOW TO BLINK!
Starting in 2009 the County Management started a stealth project to reduce the bloated staff of the County Fire Department. Secret meetings were initiated with local municipal fire department ( Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach , and Port Orange among others). The County at first denied that such meetings took place until the Shadow produced minutes of these meetings. Then a statement was made last May to the County Council a plan that the Shadow thought they were immediately implementing reducing the staffing at 19 stations with two to a shift. They were going to retain four so-called “hubs” with three to a shift. We asked about the implementation of this plan last June and were told that it was not to be put in place until October 1, 2010. The Shadow asked about it in November and were stiffed. So we started data requests. Two weeks ago we received significant information but no analysis or indication of action on the plan. SEE Article 4 below.
Last Thursday the Public Safety Director for the County announced that they planned to try to train 18 fireman as correctional officers in the Department of Corrections and the fireman IAFF union agreed. The Union stated that it appreciated that the County was thinking about what to do with out of work fireman. Not one word about any loss in public safety. In a nut shell the Union realized that negotiating for jobs for their soon to be out of work members was better than trying to sell the lie that public safety would suffer. In addition the Shadow believes that the County designated five more stations as “hubs” (saving at least 20 to 25 additional jobs for the time being) and created “floaters” (no job but still on the payroll) until someone retired. So , it is not as if the Union did not get something when they caved on the big issues. But keep in mind that the Union got the message that there was no longer going to be business as usual where they dictate to the elected officials their demands.
The Shadow is delighted that after publishing articles on this issue for two or three years the County recognized that they had increased the work force unnecessarily and that reducing the staffing levels would not affect public safety. We are dismayed that it took a recession and an imminent taxpayer revolt to catch their attention. We are even more dismayed that they continue to keep the taxpayers out of the discussions and make these decisions with no public discussion.
These were sent to the Shadow alphabetized by first name. Note, that required manipulating the data in the computer since no company maintains its books alphabetized on a first name basis. This puts a lie to any argument advanced by them that they could not do this. It was done at the direction and involvement we believe with their $207,000 Chief Executive ( R. RODI), their $100,000 lawyer (PRESTON- see-1099), and its $80,000 Secretary (D. Simmons). Total cost of the three with the salary shown and all the bennies we believe is between $ 550,000 and $600,000. The Shadow will publish these W-2s in a more readable form next week. Remember this is a CEO who has failed in his job. His pay alone doubled during the five years he has been running the place into the ground at your expense.
“I think the union strategy has been to wait me out, to wait this out,” Peyton said, stressing that pension reform is one of his top budget priorities.
Fire union President Randy Wyse said he expected the city’s move and won’t let it alter his negotiating strategy.
“They’re trying to rush us into a deal,” he said.
The sides haven’t discussed pension costs in great deal. Firefighters on Tuesday proposed a 3 percent pay increase — far off the 3 percent cut the city offered during the first bargaining session last fall.
The fire and police unions have refused to negotiate pension changes, citing a city settlement the unions say require those changes to be addressed by the Police and Fire Pension Fund. Both Wyse and local Fraternal Order of Police president Nelson Cuba said Tuesday that position hasn’t changed.
Leonard Carson, a Tallahassee attorney who has long represented Jacksonville in public safety contract talks, maintains pensions are within the unions’ purview — should they choose to discuss them.
Carson wouldn’t put a specific timetable on how long the current pension proposal will be around, but said in negotiations, “You can anticipate the life of the proposal with the grandfathering to be very short-lived.”
The proposal now on the table would:
•Increase minimum retirement requirements from 20 years of service at any age to 25 years of service and a minimum age requirement of 52.
•Eliminate the guaranteed 8.4 percent return on deferred retirement accounts.
•Increase the employee pension contribution from 7 percent of pay to 8 percent.
The proposed pension changes would save the city $1.27 billion over 35 years, according to the city.
Peyton and several council members have described the public safety pensions as unsustainable and are looking for ways to rein in costs — estimated at more than $79 million out of this year’s nearly $1 billion budget.
Negotiations with the fire union continue this morning . The police union is scheduled to meet again with the city Thursday.
(904) 359-4550”
The New Smyrna Beach City Manager and Human Resource Director should not try and force the current fire department contract down our throats for another year. They did it with the police contract. They took advantage of the Commissioners and it was no more than a flim-flam job which probably violated the Sunshine requirements. Please, do not tell us it is too late to negotiate this year’s contract. Invite some of the taxpayers to those private meetings with the City Commissioners where you sell them nonsense and protect the City Employees from any of the consequences of the current depression and the huge loss of revenue. Cut the property tax. Reduce the City budget.
As a note, Jacksonville management says it is not really an ultimatum, it is a fact.
IN NEW SMYRNA BEACH IT IS BUSINESS AS USUAL: PAY THE EMPLOYEES AND DO NOTHING TO REDUCE
EMPLOYEE BUDGET COSTS.
NO FREE RIDE FOR ANOTHER YEAR IN JACKSONVILLE. This is the current status of negotiations on the fire department contract in Jacksonville, Florida:
“Jacksonville to fire union: Take pension deal or it’ll get worse”
By Matt Galnor
Story updated at 8:26 AM on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010
If the Jacksonville’s public safety unions don’t move quickly to accept a pension reform proposal that applies only to new employees, the city will take steps to cut retirement benefits for current workers, too.
The city’s announcement Tuesday came during the first negotiation session with the fire union since a closed-door meeting last week between the Mayor John Peyton, his top negotiators and the City Council.
City officials think the union contract talks are dragging; union bosses say the city is trying to force a quick agreement.
BYE, BYE LIEUTENANTS IN NEW SMYRNA BEACH FIRE DEPARTMENT. NO NEED FOR THREE TO A SHIFT. FOURTEEN COUNTY FIRE STATIONS NOW HAVE TWO TO A SHIFT
Well we thought the end of the story about the downsizing of the County fire department staffing was to find out that 19 of the 23 County Fire Department stations were now limited to two to a shift. Surprise, there were seven such stations in 2009 with two to a shift. So far only another seven have been changed in status. These additional seven still have “floaters” and instead of four so-called “hubs”, there are seven or nine of them. It would seem that the “floaters” will be phased out as other jobs open. In a statement last May the plan advance was that there would only be four “hubs”. Attached is a LINK that shows all 23 stations and their current staffing. [SEE the Shadow Archives of March 24,2008 and February 25,2008,for other articles explaining the three to a shift rip off.]
But that is not the end of the issue. We thought that the terms “floater” and “hub” must have a meaning. Our first thought was that “floater” was 101 proof rum floated on top of a frozen daiquiri. Or maybe a drowned person in the surf? County Councilman Jack Hayman told us, however, that a “floater” was a fireman on duty who could be called to a specific station no matter where located when needed. That is puzzling to the Shadow. How could an individual “floating” in DeLand be helpful in Silver Sands if a call came in? A “hub” is defined as a station that would assure that there was a four minute response time all over the County. That is also peculiar since we know that many roads and places where you could not even reach the end of a dirt road on SR 44 in 10 minutes much less get to a house on that road for another 10 minutes. Ranchett Road is one. Well the attached document defines “hub” and “floater” and frankly we still have trouble with the definitions. LINK. We think that both “floaters” and “hubs” are no more than phony gimmicks whose prime purpose is to cushion the reality that staffing levels will be reduced. On the other hand that is a small price for the sea change that is occurring. Next year we expect more positions will open for transfer of excess employees and more hubs will be converted to two to a shift.
We asked for the report of underlying statistics for all 23 stations showing all calls and including response times. LINK It is comprehensive. Look at it. We will analyze this document which is quite detailed over the next few weeks. What is clear is that response times and effectiveness is not enhanced by staffing the station with three to a shift. New Smyrna Beach should wake up and smell the coffee.
It is pretty simple. If the County does not need three to a shift, neither do we. This demand by the Union here in New Smyrna Beach is one of the principal reasons the fire department costs are so high.
