Piedmont Civic Association - Piedmont, California

Piedmont Budget Advisory Committee May 22

2012-05-19T16:53:19Z

The Budget Advisory & Financial Planning Committee will meet again Tuesday, May 22, 2012 6:00 p.m. Emergency Operations Center, in the Police Department at 403 Highland Avenue. No recordings or broadcasts of the meeting will be available. Those interested in hearing or observing the proceedings must attend the meeting.

The agenda includes:

Discuss impacts of pension/health benefits and potential recommendation

Review and discuss five year projections regarding general fund revenue, expenditures and transfers including assumptions, risk factors and potential upsides

Discussion regarding the Committee’s report to City Council

May 23: Budget, Beach, Bonds and More

2012-05-19T16:52:20Z

PUSD eyes Alan Harvey Theatre improvements -

The Piedmont Unified School District Board will begin its May 23 meeting with a closed Session at 6:30 p.m. on negotiations with Association of Piedmont Teachers (APT) and California State Employee Association (CSEA), Chapter 60.

Open session will begin at 7:00 p.m. regarding:

a presentation of a check from Beach Parents Organization (BPO) for the Beach Project
*Seismic Safety Bond Program Budget update,
review of concept for Alan Harvey Theatre improvements by volunteer Designer Mark Becker, designer of Havens School
review of Project/Program priorities for Seismic Safety Bond Program Funds and recommendation for allocation of funds for high priority, time-sensitive projects
report on Governor’s May Budget update
acceptance of a gift towards elimination of furlough days

For the full agenda and staff reports click here. Video streaming of Board Meetings can be accessed at www.piedmont.k12.ca.us The meeting will be held in City Hall Council Chambers at 120 Vista Avenue.

If you wish to receive an electronic version of future Board meeting agendas, submit your request with an email address to: sspiker@piedmont.k12.ca.us.

Piedmont Bird Callers on TV May 23

2012-05-19T16:51:39Z

Bird callers from the 47th Annual Bird Calling Contest held on May 4, 2012 will appear on CBS Channel 5 The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 starting at 11:30 p.m. All contestants were from Piedmont High School and Millennium High School.

The winners are:

1st Place – Greater Prairie Chicken – Cameron Anderson, Tlalli Moya Smith, Sheli Schacker

2nd Place – Green Heron – Fenua Ibabao

3rd Place – California Quail – Wes Dunlap, Lawrence Ma, William Meredith

Monday May 21 Council Meeting: Management Employee Contracts and New Police Chief Recruitment

2012-05-18T20:35:56Z

City Council also to discuss litigation in closed session -

The City Council is scheduled to approve management employee contracts for the City Clerk/Management Information Systems Manager, Director of Finance, Fire Chief, Chief of Police, Director of Public Works, and Director of Recreation on May 21. As with other recent contracts, lower cost pension plans will be established for new (but not existing) employees in these positions.

The Council will also consider spending up to $24,000 for recruiting a new Police Chief to replace Chief John Hunt, who has announced his retirement on June 22, 2012. Of three recruitment proposals received, the City Administrator recommends enlisting the highest cost proposal by Bob Murray & Associates due to their expertise and experience in recruiting for similar positions.

In closed session, pending and potential litigation regarding Blair Park will be considered, as well as undergrounding litigation against Robert Gray Associates and Harris & Associates.

The open session will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 120 Vista Avenue on May 21, 2012. Click here for full agenda and staff reports.

May 29 Piedmont Avenue Library Meeting

2012-05-18T20:35:16Z

The status of the Piedmont Avenue Library will be discussed at a meeting on May 29 at 7 p.m., Piedmont Gardens, 110 41st Street in the 5th Floor Community Room. Council member Jane Bruner and the Associate Director of the Oakland Public Library, Gerry Garzon, will be providing an update on the possible relocation of the library.

City Volunteers to Be Honored May 31

2012-05-18T20:34:47Z

On May 31, the City will hold its annual volunteer reception to honor the following individuals who served in 2011 on City committees or commissions or provided other volunteer service to the City.

David Brown
Randolph Deutsch
Michael Gardner
Ryan Gilbert
Tamra Hege
Steven Hollis
Bill Hosler
Anne-Marie Lamarche
Eric Lindquist
Raymond Marshall
Robert McBain
Kurtland Peria
Michael Rancer
Jack Summerfield
Clark Thiel
Steven Weiner
Gregory Young

Saturday May 19 Workshop on Piedmont Budget

2012-05-17T21:38:21Z

Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Budget to be Considered by City Council

The Piedmont City Council will consider the 2012-13 City Budget at three separate meetings. The first meeting is a Special Meeting work session that will be held in the Police Department Emergency Operations Center EOC on Saturday, May 19, 2012 beginning at 9:00 a.m. No broadcasting via KCOM or the internet is planned. Interested persons must be present to hear the discussions.

The Saturday work session will include presentations by the City Administrator Geoff Grote, various staff members, and for the first time, participation by the newly formed Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee (BAFPC). The levy of the Municipal Services Tax and Sewer Tax will also be discussed. The workshop is intended to provide Council members with the opportunity to ask detailed questions of staff. The public is usually offered a greater opportunity to provide comment and input on agenda items than at formal Council meetings.

The budget process is improved this year as the BAFPC and the 2011 Municipal Tax Review Committee (MTRC) have worked toward a budget which looks at five year expenditure and revenue projections. Funding for long term improvements such as sewers, facilities, and equipment have been subjected to more careful review. Funding for the capital improvement needs of the pool facility has not been included in the budget.

Agenda:

1. Overview of the proposed FY 12-13 budget by the City Administrator
2. Review of Five-Year Projections
3. Review of departmental budgets for FY 12-13

Recreation

Aquatics (Piedmont Community Pool)

Police

Fire

Public Works

Administration

Capital Improvement Projects (CIP)

Public Forum – Prior to meeting adjournment, members of the audience may speak on an item not on the agenda during a 10 minute period divided evenly between those wishing to address the Council. Any items not completed at the time of adjournment will be reviewed at the regular City Council meeting of Monday, June 4, 2012.

The public will have additional opportunities to address the budget, the levy of the Municipal Services Tax and Sewer Tax at Public Hearings held during regularly scheduled City Council meetings on June 4 and June 18.

LINK: 2012-2013 Proposed Budget page

For questions on contents of the budget, please contact Mark Bichsel, Finance/HR Director, via email at mbichsel@ci.piedmont.ca.us or by phone at 420-3045 with any questions.

If you wish to write to the Council regarding the budget, address your letter to City Council, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, 94611 or send an e-mail to the City Clerk at jtulloch@ci.piedmont.ca.us.

2012-13 Proposed City Budget is Posted

2012-05-11T17:27:13Z

3 Meetings to Deliberate Budget Choices -

Click to visit the 2012-2013 Proposed Budget for the City of Piedmont. The City Council will begin its discussion of the 2012-13 budget at a Saturday work session, on May 19, 2012 beginning at 9:00 a.m in the Police Department EOC.

The second and third budget discussions will include public hearings on June 4 and June 18, 2012. There will also be discussion on the levy of the Municipal Services Tax and the Sewer Tax.

The public is invited to attend these meetings and provide input to the Council about spending priorities for the City in the coming year.

For questions on contents of the budget, please contact Mark Bichsel, Finance/HR Director, via email at mbichsel@ci.piedmont.ca.us or by phone at 420-3045 with any questions.

To write to the Council regarding the budget, address your letter to City Council, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, 94611 or send an e-mail to the City Clerk at jtulloch@ci.piedmont.ca.us.

Piedmont’s Employee Pension Plans Explained by Actuarial Consultant

2012-05-11T20:59:55Z

Piedmont’s Actuarial Consultant attended the May 8 meeting of the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee (BAFPC). For the first two hours of the meeting, actuary Marilyn Oliver of Bartel Associates, LLC answered the committee’s questions about Piedmont’s employee pension plans so that they could evaluate its possible future costs for the City.

CalPERS Pools for Cities with Less than 100 Employees

Piedmont, like many California cities, provides employee pension plans administered by the California Public Employees Pension System (CalPERS). For ease of administration, on June 30, 2003, CalPERS established discrete pools of employees with identical defined benefit pensions, Oliver explained. Each pool is composed of employees of public entities (local governments and agencies) with fewer than 100 employees. All employees in each pool have the same pension benefit formula and same job classification, (“Safety” or “Miscellaneous”). Piedmont’s fire & police employees are in a CalPERS Safety pool; all have a benefit formula of 3% at age 50 x FAE1 x years of employment with a CalPERS participating public entity. All other Piedmont employees are in a CalPERS Miscellaneous pool with a benefit formula of 3% at age 60 x FAE1 x years of employment with a CalPERS participating public entity. (FAE1 = average monthly earnings in the last year of employment before retirement.)

CalPERS Pension Plan Costs are Unpredictable

BAFPC chair Bill Hosler observed, “It’s an uncontrollable cost to the City. You want to hire a police officer but you don’t know what that police officer will cost over the next 25 years.” The BAFPC is charged with reviewing five year budget projections, so the members were frustrated with the uncontrollable and unknowable future costs of Piedmont’s pension plans.

The consultant explained that CalPERS is an administrator, rather than a traditional insurer since Piedmont and the other public entities participating in CalPERS plans bear ultimate liability. The liability risks are shared within each pool. If too many people retire in a given pool, the costs go up. If employers in the pool downsize their staffs, the costs go up because there are smaller payrolls, so the contribution must go up. In addition, when CalPERS investment decisions result in net losses, rather than providing income, Piedmont and other participants are liable.

Oliver explained accrued unfunded liability can result from erroneous assumptions. The amount of CalPERS unfunded future obligations is calculated on a “rolling”, 30-year amortization. Each year is the first year of the re-calibrated, or new, 30-year amortization.

BAFPC members noted that one variable is the financial security of other public entities in the Safety and Miscellaneous pools in which Piedmont participates. The consultant noted that some similarly situated communities are not in CalPERS.

The BAFPC members are writing short narratives on critical budget issues to accompany draft five-year budget projections. Both will be available for the City Council’s budget workshop on Saturday, May 19, 9am – 2pm. The next meeting of the BAFPC will be Tuesday, May 15, at 6pm.

Stanford Institute Evaluates CalPERS

2012-05-11T17:20:59Z

Two Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) studies released in December 2011 and February 2012 paint a sobering picture of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). “Actuaries and pension boards make assumptions about future investment returns and pension costs. Unfortunately, they’ve been wrong. They have overestimated investment earnings, underestimated pension costs and retroactively added benefits without proper funding. As a result, pension systems across California have huge unfunded liabilities.”

How significantly CalPERS is underfunded is debated because the future performance of CalPERS investments is unknown. CalPERS provides “defined benefit” pensions * to Piedmont and hundreds of other governments and agencies in California. The extent of CalPERS underfunding depends on the earnings assumption.

The SIEPR study called the 2011 assumption of 7.7% earnings “absurd.” If the historic bond rate return of 4.5% is assumed, then the CalPERS shortfall is $658 billion or $53,000 per California household.

In addition, SIEPR pointed to a separate and additional $118+ billion underfunding of the CalPERS retiree health benefit plans. Piedmont has been enrolled in the CalPERS retiree health benefit plan since January, 1, 1997.

In its December 2007 report to the State and fund participants CalPERS assured, “CalPERS has been a great investor for the taxpayers of California. Over the past 20 years ended June 30, 2007 the CalPERS pension fund earned an averaged 10.2% [annual] rate of return… ” Interestingly, they also bragged, “As a percent of payroll, the State pays less per employee than it did 25 years ago…”

CalPERS assets reached their highest value of $247.7 billion as of June 30, 2007. A 23.4% loss of principle in 2009 reduced the assets to $180.9 billion. As of June 30, 2011 CalPERS assets had recovered to $237.5 billion, still short of its 2007 value. ( If CalPERS investments over the years 2007 –2011 had produced a 7.5% return – the current and lowest return the Board assumed since 2007 — the assets would have increased to $330.77 billion as of June 30, 2011.)

*A defined benefit pension program guarantees a set monthly pension benefit upon retirement. This places all the risk on the public providers of the pensions, leaving them vulnerable to poor investment decisions and the performance of those chosen investments.