Readers ask about benefits and turnover
Readers often e-mail me questions about city government or politics, and I try to respond with useful information. Here are the answers to two recent questions of general interest:
First, a 38-year resident asked about pension and health benefits collected for serving on the City Council and wanted to know how and when the benefits were established.
Back in 1995, council members quietly slipped themselves into an annual resolution that sets compensation for management employees. The words “city council” were added to two sections, one detailing retirement benefits and the other medical and dental benefits.
The resolution passed 3-2, with then council members Barbara Kiley, Mark Schwing and Gene Wisner in favor and John Gullixson and Dan Welch opposed, and the benefits have continued every year since.
Pension benefits include an annual $1,500 payment to the Public Employees Retirement System for each of four council members: John Anderson, Jan Horton, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing. Jim Winder already receives a PERS retirement for Brea police service.
The highest PERS allowance, based on the $500 monthly council salary and a usual $60 per month Redevelopment Agency payment, would be $162 each month, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment, for life, beginning at age 63 after three terms. Lower payments could start at age 50 after five council years.
Health insurance is provided under a “cafeteria” option that allows council members to put all or part of the city’s $833 monthly payment in a retirement plan similar to a 401k.
Anderson, Horton, Schwing and Winder put $833 into their plans, totaling $9,996 each per year, and Rikel receives $459 for health insurance and $374 for her retirement plan.
The city provides “self-insured” dental and vision insurance, and council members take a $36 monthly phone stipend.
Second, a newer resident asks about recent turnover among top-level city employees: “Is Yorba Linda a toxic city?”
No, not any more than other places in this economic climate. Former City Manager Tammy Letourneau was properly dismissed 5-0 in 2008, and a skilled new manager, Dave Adams, is adeptly leading the city through the tougher times without such past resources as plentiful developer fees.
Some employees, facing lower earnings and furlough days, took an early retirement incentive in 2009, similar to one taken this year by 92 Placentia-Yorba Linda school district teachers.
City Attorney Sonia Carvalho’s resignation was accepted 5-0. She was replaced by Assistant City Attorney Jamie Raymond, with no loss of “institutional knowledge.”
A motion to ask qualified firms for bids on city legal work merited a 5-0 vote, but Horton and Winder were opposed. The city should seek lower contract costs in today’s economic environment, and bidding the legal business for the first time in 10 years is a good idea
First, a 38-year resident asked about pension and health benefits collected for serving on the City Council and wanted to know how and when the benefits were established.
Back in 1995, council members quietly slipped themselves into an annual resolution that sets compensation for management employees. The words “city council” were added to two sections, one detailing retirement benefits and the other medical and dental benefits.
The resolution passed 3-2, with then council members Barbara Kiley, Mark Schwing and Gene Wisner in favor and John Gullixson and Dan Welch opposed, and the benefits have continued every year since.
Pension benefits include an annual $1,500 payment to the Public Employees Retirement System for each of four council members: John Anderson, Jan Horton, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing. Jim Winder already receives a PERS retirement for Brea police service.
The highest PERS allowance, based on the $500 monthly council salary and a usual $60 per month Redevelopment Agency payment, would be $162 each month, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment, for life, beginning at age 63 after three terms. Lower payments could start at age 50 after five council years.
Health insurance is provided under a “cafeteria” option that allows council members to put all or part of the city’s $833 monthly payment in a retirement plan similar to a 401k.
Anderson, Horton, Schwing and Winder put $833 into their plans, totaling $9,996 each per year, and Rikel receives $459 for health insurance and $374 for her retirement plan.
The city provides “self-insured” dental and vision insurance, and council members take a $36 monthly phone stipend.
Second, a newer resident asks about recent turnover among top-level city employees: “Is Yorba Linda a toxic city?”
No, not any more than other places in this economic climate. Former City Manager Tammy Letourneau was properly dismissed 5-0 in 2008, and a skilled new manager, Dave Adams, is adeptly leading the city through the tougher times without such past resources as plentiful developer fees.
Some employees, facing lower earnings and furlough days, took an early retirement incentive in 2009, similar to one taken this year by 92 Placentia-Yorba Linda school district teachers.
City Attorney Sonia Carvalho’s resignation was accepted 5-0. She was replaced by Assistant City Attorney Jamie Raymond, with no loss of “institutional knowledge.”
A motion to ask qualified firms for bids on city legal work merited a 5-0 vote, but Horton and Winder were opposed. The city should seek lower contract costs in today’s economic environment, and bidding the legal business for the first time in 10 years is a good idea
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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