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July 23rd, 2007
VOTE IN THE NEXT ELECTION, YOU MUST PREVAIL
CHANGE IS THE NAME OF THE GAME! BUSINESS AS USUAL AT CITY HALL IS NOT ACCEPTABLE VOTE IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SAY. DO NOT RELY ON YOUR NEIGHBORS TO DO YOUR JOB. IF YOU CANNOT GO TO THE POLLS, OR YOU WILL BE OUT OF TOWN ON ELECTION DAY, REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT, MARK, AND RETURN IT TO THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS BEFORE YOU LEAVE. THERE WILL BE A PRIMARY ELECTION ON OCTOBER 9 IF MORE THAN TWO CANDIDATES RUN. THE GENERAL ELECTION IS NOVEMBER 6.
CALL ANN MCFALL, THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS IN NSB AT 423-3311, OR GO TO HER WEB SITE http://volusia.org/elections/reginfo.htm#voter AND REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT. CONTACT THE CITY CLERK, JANIS LOWRY, AT THE AOB TO OBTAIN QUALIFICATION PAPERS IF YOU WANT TO RUN FOR OFFICE, AND WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO SO. COMPLETE AND RETURN THE NECESSARY PAPERS WITH THE REQUIRED FEES NO LATER THAN NOON ON SEPTEMBER 6.
TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO VOTE. IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY WITH OF YOUR CURRENT ELECTED OFFICIALS, YOU CAN REPLACE THREE OF THEM IN NOVEMBER. VOTE, AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO VOTE
WHAT DO THESE NUMBERS HAVE IN COMMON?
6.5%----------------------------- across the board pay increase given to all city employees.
Effective October 1, 2006
3 .5% ----------------------------across the board pay increase tentatively approved for all city employees and is in this year budget. If approved, effective October 1, 2007
10% ------------------------------cumulative across the board pay increases approved for City employees over last two years
4%------------------------------ rate of inflation 2006
2.6%-----------------------------rate of inflation first 6 months of 2007
2.1%---------------------------- property evaluation increase on homesteaded property
7%------------------------------- IAFF requested for pay increase for fire department union personnel
0%--------------------------------offered by City Manager as a pay increase for fire department personnel
0ne Year contract------------offered by City Manager to IAFF
$10 million----------------------anticipated Commission mandated reserve
What they have in common is that the taxpayers and voters do not seem to care what the City negotiates until they must pay for it, and then they raise indignant ire. At the recent PUBLIC negotiating session for the new Fire Department UNION contract, there were only two non city employees present---one was Joel Addington from the Observer who left early, and the other was former Mayoral candidate and Utilities Commission Chairman, Ken Taylor.
HEY, JOHN, THE BIG ENCHILADA FOR THE CITY IS CUTTING BACK THE CALCULATION FOR PENSIONS BY AT LEAST ONE PERCENT. EVEN AT TWO PERCENT, UNLESS YOU CUT BACK ON WHEN THE PENSION STARTS TO BE PAID OUT YOU MIGHT STILL BANKRUPT THE CITY. HOW ABOUT DEMANDING THAT THESE EMPLOYEES PAY IN 8% OF THEIR SALARY TO THE PENSION FUND? HOW ABOUT A 3% REDUCTION IN PAYOUT FOR EACH YEAR RETIREMENT IS PAID UNDER THE AGE OF 60?
NOTES
1. We were musing as to how many pursuit vehicles are necessary for a City that has four zones with two twelve hour shifts. We assume that each officer on duty patrolling a zone works four days or 40 hours of regular time and eight hours a week on overtime. That equates to two cars for 24 hours for each zone, which is eight cars for all four zones for both shifts. Therefore, what we end up with is the need for two pursuit vehicles for each zone (one used four days and 1 used three days), times two for each day recognizing two twelve hours shifts, and each shift times 4 zones or 14 to cover the whole week. Now we know that cars frequently need repair and service so we allow for two spares and two spares to cover while replacing older vehicles. By our arithmetic, that is 20 vehicles. We have 34 pursuit vehicles. Would someone tell us where we have gone wrong? Not only is the whole concept of take-home cars costly, but a huge compensation bonus for those police officers who have no need for such cars as personal vehicles.
2. We were also somewhat surprised that we have pursuit vehicles at all. Do we really want hot pursuit within our City limits other than maybe on I-95, which we do not patrol? Hot pursuit in urban areas is generally limited to situations involving serious crimes in progress, such as chasing a suspected murderer or foiling a robbery. Chasing a fleeing motorist for running a traffic light is usually considered too risky for both the police officer and the public in general. We do not know the policy here, but at least not permitting a high speed chase on Route 1 or SR 44 seems more appropriate than speeding on either of these roads at 80 MPH.
3. The municipal golf course is open early, runs late, and maximizes green fees and revenue from members who use their own powered golf carts ($800 per year for trail use as against renting a cart for $11 per use). Contrary to some postings, it does not open late and does not close early. The restaurant does close at 6 PM. We have our problems with some of the goings on out there, but these criticisms seem unwarranted.
1. We did not attend the joint meeting between the Utilities Commission and the City Commissioner last Monday but have been informed that Jeanne Diesen told a Commissioner that a question tendered was not a subject on the agenda and therefore was improper. We think that the logic is something as follows:
“Please only ask questions on the subjects we tell you we are willing to discuss. We did not call this meeting so you can exercise oversight. No, that is what you said you were going to do when you moved out competent management and replaced it with us, but over sight does not apply to us. You City Commissioners get this straight. We do not intend for you to exercise any oversight unless we decide to permit it. I am the great Diesen, a female, and when I tell you not to ask a question I mean it, and expect to be obeyed. Moreover, do not think that Chairman Para or Commissioner Spangler will vote otherwise, if they know what is good for them. If he wants my help with electing Sally, he will do what I tell him to do. “
So much for oversight. By the way did the City Commission say anything when the Utilities Commission increased Rodi's pay, doubled his severance pay, gave him more vacation time that he can cash in for real money for having a bad year, or when they increased your rates? Of course not, what a sham!
2. A colloid may best describe the budget document submitted by the City Commission this week. A colloid is suspension of particles that when mixed with a clear liquid, like water, generally renders a liquid as totally opaque. Nowhere does it clearly explain what was cut and, where since cuts in spending are greater than anticipated revenue, the extra money is coming from. It will be interesting over the next several weeks to figure out what line items were really cut, and how these worthies intend to obtain the funds for not cutting more. We think that it will be like hunting for a needle in the hay stack, but we intend to find the needle with our very sensitive metal detector.
DEAR JOHN
We know of the limited resources available to John Hagood, the City Manager, and to his inability to get all of the important letters written that he would like to send. So we decided to help him and provide him drafts that will simplify his tasks and free him up for important.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Chief Tim Hawver
From: John Hagood
After about six months of requesting the map that allegedly supports the new fire station, I received it about three weeks ago and provided it to the Shadow under a freedom of information request. Unfortunately, it was my only copy. The Shadow claims that the map does not support the need to build a five million dollar fire station on the expensive Putt-Putt property, but does support the need to refurbish Columbus Avenue. I realize the City Commissioners do not want to jeopardize the Fire Department vote so close to the election, but I think they each need to review this map so that they can defend themselves when this information becomes public. Please send over five six copies so that I can give one to each of the Commissioners as well as have one for myself? So there is no mistake at the map I need, look at the LINK.
Thanking you in advance for your assistance,
John
BENEFITS AND PENSIONS
Pensions are a deferred payment of compensation by the employer. The usual method is an annuity paid out after the employee leaves the job or retires. It is generally rendered in monthly payments and considered as a contractual obligation that can only be modified by either mutual consent of the parties, or an intervening event that is recognized as ending or modifying the agreement. Many plans have traditionally permitted spouses to receive this benefit after the death of the pensioner, and provide various levels of health care plan participation.
The method of calculating a pension is the major factor in determining how much compensation the employee will receive. There are five major factors usually considered in the equation used to perform this calculation:
1. Years of service,
2. Average annual compensation
3. The multiplier used to set the annuity,
4. The number of years before the annuity vests
5. The year in which the payout begins.
This has nothing to do with disability, which will be the subject of another article. The amount of money available to pay a pension over the life of the annuity is a function of the contributions made by the employee and paid or guaranteed by the employer. Also, tongue in cheek, keep in mind that if you only recruited 45 year old employees, you might have higher disability but lower pensions.
Let us define the terms and give a few examples for pensions.
1. An employee has a plan using a formula that multiplies the average salary for the last several years of service times, the years of service, times a set percentage. Including more years in the last several years’ average generally lowers the annuity. and increasing the percentage raises it significantly. An employee with a plan that averages only the last three years is better off than with one that averages over five years. However, all of these factors may be negotiable.
2. The employee must work a set number of years to be eligible for a pension. In many plans if an employee does not work enough years, they are required to withdraw their contribution, usually with interest, when they leave.
3. Once the required number of years has been reached, the pension vests. The question now becomes how many years must the employee work before they are entitled to be paid an annuity under the pension plan? Many plans use 30 years, but the number of years may vary according to the employer’s view what is reasonable, and many use 20 years of service as a benchmark. Age also is a consideration, and most pension plans provide significantly reduced annual payments if retirement age is below 55. The old Federal system was calculated and allowed retirement at any age and 30 years of service, it also allowed retirement 20 years of service and age 55—the latter yielding about a 36% annuity calculated on the average annual income for the last three years of service.
4. Age 55 is a hold over from the days when the average life expectancy of a white male in our society was 63. If you look at Social Security, which is not a pension, but where the considerations for some of these computations is similar, the age level now used is 67. It is expected to be raised to 73 in the near future, which looks to be the current life expectancy of a white male, and Social Security would again quickly be solvent, or so they say. It is evident that if you pay a full pension after 20 or 25 years to a 40 year old retiree, you might have problems.
5. The killer consideration is the percentage multiplier. For a 20 year vesting retirement plan, a three percent multiplier means that the employee vests in 20 years, and will receive a 60% pension if they retire at that time. Make that 30 years, and you have a 90 % vested pension. If that employee began working at age 19, that is almost full pay for a 49 year old at retirement.
An example of what the Shadow considers a pension plan out of kilter is the Fire Department contract we are printing it below:
FIRE SERVICE ALA CARTE, ABOLISH IT
Abolish the current fire department. It is no longer a fire department but a medical rescue squad. Personnel are currently recruited as firefighters, and then paid additional to train themselves to become qualified of medical rescue team members. If we hired them as fully trained medical rescue team members, we would only have to send them for a short course on how to handle infrequent fire calls. Moreover, we could bring in scads of volunteers, buy a number of rescue vehicles instead of more fire trucks, and hire off-duty fire personnel from other jurisdictions as part time employees and there would be no need to train anyone to be a firefighter. What a concept!
The current model for the City is like buying dinner in Europe. If you buy dinner in many countries in Europe, they count the bread sticks and rolls you ate out of the bowl. Each item on the menu is individually priced, and there is no pricing of the entire meal. (There are prix fix menus, but they are very limited and none that we recall included those darn bread sticks and rolls.)
Years ago, we had a fire department whose primary function was to put out fires. Most of them were volunteers, and many of the volunteers were very well trained, dedicated to the tasks they imposed on themselves, and highly valued by the rest of us for their services. They did, and where they still exist, raise a lot of money from the local burghers to buy the best equipment and run the best chicken and beef barbeques in the area. They also built fire stations like the one on Columbus Avenue. There are still a few volunteers in the neighborhood, such as the two at the Silver Sands fire house, but as the communities became more urban, they turned more and more to full time paid fire fighters. The one hallmark of a paid fire fighting service is that usually in a few years there is simply no room in the firehouse for the volunteers. Not always. In our nation’s capitol, one of the most urban areas in the country, there is a 200 person strong volunteer corps which is considered to be one of the best medical rescue, now get this right, medical rescue services, not fire departments, in the country. They answer all emergency call, car accidents, as well as home calls, and the fire departments only respond to fires.
Now we have become more and more sophisticated in building houses that do not burn, starting in the 1950's with building codes having stronger electric code requirements, fail safe devices on hot water heaters and appliances, ,and insulation that does not propagate fires, the number of fires began to diminish. Something as simple as banning incandescent light fixtures in home closets reduces fires, Fire marshals do their job, codes are enforced, and fires decrease in numbers to become almost insignificant for suburban cities. They now remain a problem only in big cities like New York with a large stock of older buildings. Fire departments literally have had less and less to do if what they only did was put water or chemicals on house fires. At the same time, single floor construction and sprinklers lessen the likelihood that anyone will be inside a structure and need rescuing. We had only 18 structural and residential fires last year in New Smyrna Beach, and there were only four beachside. Nevertheless, as fires have diminished, fire departments have morphed into medical rescue units with more costly equipment and a demand for higher staffing levels to put out fires that are not the most serious problem they must handle.
Even the fire department recognizes that it is now a medical rescue unit. It says so when it defends the lack of house fire responses, apparently one every three months from Columbus Avenue, and points to the large number of medical and other calls it answers. This comes to a little under four a day if you divide the 4000 calls by three stations and divide by 365 days. Now we will accept that some of the 4000 calls at face value are true emergencies, but the Shadow has been unable to find out how many heart attack victims with complete heart stoppage (v-fibr) arrive at Bert Fish Memorial Hospital alive, and how many of them leave Bert Fish alive—the so-called “save rate.” This is one of the critical numbers used for medical rescue evaluation, and we have covered that in other articles.
This leads us to the thesis of this essay. There is no need for a fire department as currently constituted, but there may be a need for a reconstituted rescue service where we pay for those skills as part of the basic pay scale, and possibly augment the fire service with volunteers, or paid off duty fireman from other services. No more a la carte payments. Of course, since our current employees are crossed trained as fire fighters and medical rescue personnel, (look at what is painted on the fire trucks), we could hire new recruits as probationary until he or she qualifies for both skills. If the qualifications were not met within a stated period, the recruit would be terminated. The important concept here is that this is the pay scale, and there are no a la carte add ons for just doing your job. We are not suggesting that these employees should not be paid fairly, but call it for what it is, and not over pay for what it is not. It should also be fair to the taxpayers.
We think the issues on the table for consideration should not only be reducing pay and pensions, consolidating with the other coastal cities, or having a single County service, which is what Seminole County is now addressing, but reconstituting the current fire department as a rescue service with a more rational system for pay and pensions. Of course, first on the list of any reform of the current irrational system is paying Cindy Richenberg for being the public spokesman for the fire department. That is an unacceptable a la carte frill, besides, that job should a function of the Chief and deputy Chief. You will note, however, that not one elected official has publically addressed this superfluous payment or any of the other financial or management issues facing the City.
“Best Blog of the Week”
(Edited for grammar and punctuation)
A POTPOURRI OF CITIZEN COMMENTS IS
AGAIN PROVIDED THIS WEEK IN ORDER
FOR YOU TO GET IN TUNE WITH THE
MOOD OF OUR READERS
Of course, we want fire and police service --- because WE PAY FOR IT! The problem is that as compared to other cities, we're overcharged for these services. Stop trying to distort the issue. As far as identifying ourselves, you sound like a stalker
At the last joint UC city meeting the mayor or one of the city commissioners ask a question that was not on the topics list as outlined by the UC. Diesen quickly informed them that it was not allowed and they obediently shut up. I agree, the UC runs the city commission.
Kill the city's three turkey projects with one stone. Throw a tarp over the Flagler pavilion and call her the new firehouse-police pavilion. Total savings = multi millions.
No, I'm not wrong. First and again KB Homes has no where near 8000 homes empty here. Second, if you were correct where would 8000 families work if they all just magically bought homes at Venetian and Sugar mill? These neighborhood wrecking folks aren’t known to have a big down payment or a nest egg. Look up the problem with hedge funds and raising of credit standards. No low income people are coming to SR44. What will happen is prices will be lowered until people with investment money see a big opportunity and buy. Some will be families and some will be what is called "patient money investors.” Some will move up from medium neighborhoods many will be those Yankees you all hate. There are still 1000 people a day moving to FL. Your comments about tourism are proof of your total ignorance. Who in hell vacations in Venetian? Your math is wrong, your understanding of economics is wrong and your philosophy is wrong. You must be a CBS news watcher. Please come to the debate more educated. Honestly, I'm trying to go slow but it’s like explaining stuff to Lynn Plaskett.
Taxman you mention Plaskett and forget her pet project workforce housing what used to be called projects. she is always looking for a way to take money from taxes and give to her5 voting base it is possible they could be in Venetian just need to raise taxes some more on the rest of us
To the commenter ***grab meankles----we don't support everything about Comm. Richenberg---but enlighten us, what's wrong with eco friendly-slow growth? The alternatives are Orlando-Miami-Jax-Atlanta--Mr. Richenberg has our support.*** I'll answer for grabmeankles. Eco-friendly slow growth is a buzzword for local governments (they use the misnomer of "smart growth") to take away property rights. You tell the people that owned R-5 zoned property on the beach that they were not deprived of their property rights! They lost half of the value of their property with two quick votes by your enviro-nazi commissioners (some of them). Please Google Pacific Legal Foundation and you will begin to understand the extent of the problem. By the way, I was at the meeting when the commissioners, in their most anti-American positioning, deprived these PROPERTY OWNERS AND INVESTORS, of their right to due process and 5th amendment right against unjust "takings" of property. The definition of a taking is clearly established with regards to a ministerial function of rendering property unusable or degrading its value. I was also witness to several (at least 3) who said to one of those affected that "they deserved what they had coming and that the decrease in the value was "sufficient for her.” Think about that, how would you feel if someone said that to you? Every American Citizen should be alarmed at this! Has any followed the Riviera Beach Florida story where the commissioners (this time on the side of a developer) determined that a "blighted area" (all riverfront) needed to be "taken" from its property owners through eminent domain to increase the tax base? COME ON PEOPLE, DO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A COMMUNIST / SOCIALIST AMERICA. Unfortunately, that's the direction we've heading. Not an America that I would want to live in.
CITY OF NEW SMYRNA BEACH FIREFIGHTER BENEFITS
Health/Dental Insurance
City pays 100% for employee and 0% for dependent coverage.
HealthEmployee has choice of Florida Health Care (HMO) or Aetna (QPOS).DentalPacific Mutual – 2 cleanings and 1 x-ray/year. 80% Preventative – 50% Major.Life Insurance
City pays 1 x your annual salary (max. $100,000).
Supplemental Life Insurance per State of Florida. (in line of duty only).
Short Term Disability
If employee is injured off the job, employee has 2 week waiting period and then is paid for up to 13 weeks of disability. Maternity leave is treated as any other illness, but is generally paid for 4 weeks after the 2 week waiting period unless the doctor states otherwise. (2/3 City, 1/3 Employee PL time).
Retirement
Defined Benefit Plan through The City of New Smyrna Beach Fire Pension Board. Normal retirement is age 55 and completion of 10 years of service or 25 years service at any age. Earn 3% credit per service year. Employee pays 1% of salary. Employee contributions are considered qualified (tax exempt).
Personal Leave
Employee will accrue 202 hours of personal leave in the first year up to 5 years. Accruals will increase with years of service. Employee can use one week of personal leave after 6 months.
Longevity
Employee will receive 24 hours of pay after 5 years of service. Longevity will increase as years of service increase.
Holidays
11 paid holidays (1 includes employees Birthday)
The retirement age is age 55 and 10 years of service, or 25 years and any age. This means that any firefighter hired at age 18 and can choose to retire at age 43 with a 75% pension.
The increase pay to Cindy Richenberg of $7,200 per year as the public relation officer adds significantly to her five year average since this is in her high five year average and her current 23 years of service provides a huge pension benefit. In 2006, she replaced 2001, which was a $36,000 year salary with a $91,000 year. One adds all five years and divides by five. Shucking a bad year for the world's greatest year is pretty good. This means that she increased her annuity by about $7,000 ($55,000 increase in high five divided by 5 = $11,000 increase). At the end of 2007 she will also get rid of a $46,000 for another $91,000 year and add almost another $50,000 to her high five and another $6,000 a year for the rest of her life. From an actuarial point of view, that extra 1% on how this is calculated is $25,000 a year times 35 or 40 years. $900,000 and $1,000,000 than if figured at the 2%. So far, that little extra duty for Cindy Richenberg has cost you about $2500 in an extra annuity payment for the rest of her life.
Another hooker in the equation for the above contract is that the fire fighters only contribute 1% to their pension fund. If they contributed the 8% contributed by police officers, the amount of their contribution would offset some of these pension costs.
Just to keep everything in perspective, a week or two ago a United Airline stewardess was highlighted in a feature article as saying she would be required to work after qualifying a pension in her sixties, because the pension would not be enough to support her.
STRANGEWATER
We have hired an exorcist to rid the City Commission in Edgewater of odd and disturbing thoughts. A month or two ago the City Manager of Edgewater asked the Sheriff of Volusia County how much he would charge to provide police service to Edgewater, and the Sheriff responded that he could do so for about half the cost of the current service and would be willing to sit down and negotiate the appropriate terms and service. Well the Shadow published the Sheriff's response and we really do applaud the City Manger for asking. We hope that the City Manager of New Smyrna Beach asked the Sheriff for a quote also, but no one will tell us.
Now for the fun part. The Edgewater City Commission does not care that the Sheriff might save them a million or two a year. No, please do not ask the Sheriff. They actually voted that he should not ask the Sheriff. Given the circumstances, could you blame the Edgewater City Manager, Jon Williams, for being vague as to whether he had or had not asked the Sheriff? Not us. He hid behind the fig leaf that he had not negotiated, and hid more or less by not explicating that he had asked and gotten an answer. You can not blame him because he was dealing with a bunch of elected officials who care more about placating their minuscule possibly inefficient police force and not giving a damn about the taxpayers. This is not a criticism of how the police force protects the public, but that it has an unneeded command structure and the ancillary functions are cheaply available from the County. A Martian observer might conclude that the elected officials in Edgewater are more solicitous of the feelings of their 30 person police force than the pocketbooks of their 22,000 taxpayers. As Senator Dirksen once said, “a million here and a million there soon adds up to real money.”
We reproduce the earlier published material:
“Here are the numbers I promised. Please remember they may not be 100% correct given the short time frame I had to work with, but they are very close. Dispatch can be done for both Police and Fire for approximately $350,000.00 per year. The contracts are on 3 year cycles and only go up based on personnel cost not hardware i.e. radios, building, new software, or things like that. They are capped so they can not go up more than 5% per year however, at the end of 3 years any raises in personnel cost above 5% will be caught up.
As for LE services as I stated these are tailored to your needs. Here is an estimate based on what information I had. Two zones within the city would require 8 deputies working 12 hour shifts for 24/7 coverage. I estimate that you would need 2 investigators, 1 clerical person and 1 traffic unit. This level of service would run approximately 1.67 million (includes police dispatch). This is an estimate only. We would need to sit down and really discuss the levels of service you as a city need or desire and work it out from there. I am certain that we can provide any level of service you require in a very cost efficient manner. In addition to these deputies you also then get the added benefit of additional coverage when needed from special units such as motors, K-9, CST, Major Case (Homicide/Sex Crimes) and Prisoner Transport.” So sayeth the VCSO!
Could we suggest that someone hire an SUV and take these Edgewater officials on a shopping trip to compare prices at say Wal-Mart and K-Mart as against the prices at the Millennium Mall? We have always thought of Edgewater as a poor relative of New Smyrna Beach and not related to either Winter Park or Windermere that can afford an extra million or two without thinking it through. You would think that saving their constituents money would be right up there with the meatloaf they eat when they go out to dinner. Guess not. They probably still serve butter for bread at where they eat and do not provide an olive oil dip where they dine because that would be too upscale. Since it not their money, they do not care. The only thing they seem to do upscale is spending your money.
