Finance | California Policy Center

California bureaucrats: avoiding transparency or wastefully incompetent?

When making requests for information from government agencies, being both an environmentalist and an advocate for government transparency can be doubly painful. It is quite common for public agencies to stall or attempt to deny public records requests, but some methods are just too bizarre to believe. Two separate California school districts – Duarte Unified...

By Robert Fellner

The Fall of Pacific Grove – Conclusion: The "California Rule" Cannot Stand

In this series, relying on official records of CalPERS and the City of Pacific Grove, I have shown how those two agencies and the unions worked as one to destroy the ability of cities like Pacific Grove from providing minimal government services. But the Supreme Court of California is the great enabler and protector of...

By John Moore

The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Cover-Up by the City After the Hidden Actuarial Report Surfaced in 2009

Part 7 of 7: How the City and Unions Covered Up the Illegal Pension Enhancements In 2009, through a series of public records requests, I discovered a document entitled “Contract Amendment Cost Analysis.” It was the document mandated by State Government Code Section 7507 (for the 2002 pension increase for the safety unions), which said:...

By John Moore

Is California's Union-Controlled Legislature Waking up to Pension Problem?

Is it possible that the California Legislature is finally coming to grips with the public employee pension crisis? We certainly hope so. For years, our political leadership has behaved more like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand regarding the many billions of dollars of “unfunded liabilities” in California’s pension funds. Unlike most retirement...

By Jon Coupal

How Does "Zero-point-Eight at Sixty-Eight" Sound for a Pension Plan?

The economy is picking up steam. State, city and county employees have willingly accepted millions upon millions of dollars in cuts to their pensions. California’s largest pension fund has recouped every single investment penny it lost from the Great Recession. So I thought perhaps California police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other public employees could finally exhale....

By Edward Ring

The Fall of Pacific Grove – Privately Owned Real Property are the Only Assets to Pay for Pensions

Part 6 of 7: Unions Will Seek Court Imposed Tax Increases Instead of Reform In a corporate bankruptcy, the judge can close down the business, sell the assets, and determine which creditors get paid. But in a municipal bankruptcy (MBK), a judge cannot force a city out of business. The city should come out of...

By John Moore

Controversy in Detroit: What's a Fair Settlement of Bondholder and Pension Obligation Claims?

A huge battle between pensioners and bondholders is on. Last week, a Bond rating agency blasted Governor Rick Snyder’s $350-million Detroit pension rescue plan as being too favorable to creditors at the expense of bondholders. Today, the New York Times reports Detroit Turns Bankruptcy Into Challenge of Banks. Amy Laskey,a managing director at Fitch Ratings, said in a recent report...

By Mike Shedlock

The Fall of Pacific Grove – Anti-Pension Reform Mayor Claims to Favor Reed Pension Reform

Part 5 of 7: A New Reform Initiative is Proposed Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose is a genuine pension reform advocate. He has been working on a state-wide pension reform initiative for the last year. On Oct. 15th, the proposed initiative was filed with the state attorney general. Pacific Grove’s Mayor, a dyed-in-the-wool anti-pension...

By John Moore

The Fall of Pacific Grove – Outsourcing of Safety Services Causes Increased Pension Deficits

Part 4 of 7: How the Unions Control the City’s “Pension Subcommittee” In Pacific Grove (Pacific Grove), the employee unions rule. They have the full support of the city manager, the city attorney, and the council majority. True “collective bargaining” is a myth. The Pacific Grove Charter established a strong city manager form of city...

By John Moore

Attacks Resume on California's Prop. 13 – How Else to Fulfill Insatiable Government Union Demands?

A handful of far-left, Bay Area activists think they have come up with a clever plan to chip away at Proposition 13. Specifically, they are attempting to persuade local school boards and city councils to pass resolutions in support of removing Prop 13 protections for business property. While “resolutions” are not laws, they nonetheless can...

By Jon Coupal

Data Shows Correlation Between Government Union Power and State Government Solvency

Editor’s note: Mike Shedlock has done it again by pointing us at an important new study that examines and ranks the financial condition of the 50 U.S. state governments, as well as at a terrific map generated by the data. But missing from the study was a consolidation of state and local government financials –...

By Mike Shedlock

City of Redondo Beach Fights Unions – Full-time Firefighters Make $220,990 Total Compensation

“If you say you can’t afford it, prove it. If you can’t prove it, pay up. We’re not being greedy here. It’s embarrassing how low we are paid compared to others. The average salary of a city employee in Redondo Beach is $47,000″ – President, Redondo Beach Fire Association, January 15, 2014, Daily Breeze article “Negotiations become...

By Edward Ring

The Fall of Pacific Grove – CalPERS Begins Calling Deficits "Side Funds," Raises Annual Contributions

Part 3 of 7: By 2005 Pension Costs Were Crippling the City In 1999, CalPERS represented to the state legislature that a 50% increase in pension benefits for safety unions would not result in increased costs. It based its opinion on its investment prowess. But by 2002, the tech bubble broke, and CalPERS began suffering...

By John Moore

California State Budget Increases 9%, Includes Raises for Unionized State Workers

Shortly after Jerry Brown was first elected governor, nearly 40 years ago, he famously said, “This is an era of limits and we all had better get used to it.” In keeping with this theme, it is now taxpayers who look at Governor Brown’s proposed 2014-15 budget with reduced expectations. In fairness, there are aspects...

By Jon Coupal