Tag Archives: pension

No New Taxes – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Mike

Please vote “yes” on Proposition 32 and “no” on all tax and bond measures, including 30 ($6 billion/year income and sales tax hike), 38 ($10 billion/year income tax hike), 39 ($1 billion/year tax hike); L.A. County Measure J (another 30 year sales tax hike), and El Camino Community College District Measure E ($350 million in new bond debt, probably costing about $700 million with interest).

Taxes are too high, and we also pay business taxes which are passed on to us as consumers. Bond measures create additional debt and require taxes to pay principle and interest. Bonds often cost double the amount borrowed with interest. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, Elections, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on No New Taxes – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

State Ballot Measures – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Mike

Please vote “yes” on Proposition 32 (bans direct union and corporate contributions to candidates) and “no” on Propositions 30 (income and sales tax hike), 34 (repeals death penalty), 36 (three-strikes dilution), 38 (income tax hike), and 40 (gerrymandered redistricting plan).

Proposition 32 helps prevent El Segundo and other South Bay and California cities from being pushed toward bankruptcy by city employee unions and corporations that buy influence with politicians who then pay them back with our tax money and raise our taxes and fees to pay for it. Typical payoffs are one million tax dollars for every thousand donated.

Corrupt and wildly overpaid firefighter and police unions are spending millions of dollars in deceptive campaign ads to defeat Proposition 32. These unions have been bankrupting our cities and jacking up our taxes and fees, so they can get total compensation of $150,000 to more than $300,000 per year, and retire at age 50 or 55, with a guaranteed pension paying up to 90 percent of their single highest year salary. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on State Ballot Measures – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Cut their compensation – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Mike

Hermosa Beach need not and should not contract with L.A. County for fire and police services. Ninety percent of El Segundo voters rejected Measure P, the fire union initiative to force El Segundo to contract with L.A. County for fire/paramedic services.

The real problem is wildly excessive and unsustainable firefighter and police total compensation (salaries, benefits, and pensions). That is the greatest cause of the city’s financial problems. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Hermosa Beach, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Cut their compensation – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Out of touch – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Mike

Last week’s letter from Neil Snow demonstrates how much government union members and their political supporters are out of touch with the real world where the rest of us work, produce things and pay taxes.

Snow presented ludicrous objections to, and gross misrepresentations of, Michael Robbins’ well-reasoned recommendations to reform El Segundo’s city employee union contracts to keep the city from having a financial catastrophe.

He objected to Mr. Robbins’ recommendation that city employees pay all of their pension “employee contribution,” and at least half the total contribution, which is common in private industry, instead of the city paying the entire “employee contribution” and “employer contribution.” Snow misrepresented that recommendation, claiming that Mr. Robbins wanted to make “employees pay their entire pension.”

Snow is out of touch to expect taxpayers to continue paying all of the government union members’ pension contributions, and to expect that union members should never have to contribute a single dollar into their own pensions. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Out of touch – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

A Stink in El Segundo Over Cadillac Salaries by Paul Teetor – LA Weekly

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Mike

A Stink in El Segundo Over Cadillac Salaries

Cops earn $175,000, firefighters $210,000, in a town with few criminals or fires

By Paul Teetor
published: October 14, 2010

The debate over skyrocketing government-worker salaries got nasty in El Segundo when a homeowner published the six-figure salaries flowing to the small town’s cops and firefighters on his Gundo Blogger website — only to have a police captain track him down by phone at his UCLA job and chew him out.

The uneasy homeowner, David Burns, tells L.A. Weekly that Capt. Robert Turnbull “called me from his office to complain about my blog. … He insisted on talking about it right now. I finally had to hang up on him.”

Burns then sent Turnbull an e-mail explaining his policy of separating his blog from his job as manager of emergency preparedness at UCLA.

In a response that would have unnerved many citizens, the high-ranking cop e-mailed Burns back: “I will continue to call you at work whenever I want, as you may do the same for me, since our numbers are publicly listed.”

Turnbull vehemently objected to Burns claiming on his blog that the captain’s total pay is $302,000, insisting it should be “only” $225,000 — the amount the city defines as Turnbull’s “total earnings.”

But as Burns explains, he included “the hidden costs. [Turnbull] was trying to exclude all the extra money and special benefits beyond his base salary, but that all comes from the taxpayer’s pocket.”

Either way, it’s a staggering sum to pay a police captain in a tiny city of 16,000 residents, with zero murders in 2009, according to FBI data — and only 36 violent crimes. By contrast, not counting benefits, the Los Angeles Police Department pays its captains an average of $168,000. … Continue reading →

Posted in El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Stink in El Segundo Over Cadillac Salaries by Paul Teetor – LA Weekly

Highest paid El Segundo City Employee in 2009

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Mike

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org

August 17, 2010

SWORN POLICE OFFICERS

Generally, El Segundo sworn police officers, from lowest level Police Officer up to Police Captain, are by far the highest paid city employees except for sworn firefighters. Police Chief David Cummings was by far the highest paid city employee in calendar year 2009.

    Highest Paid El Segundo City Employee in Calendar Year 2009

Former El Segundo Police Chief David Cummings, who retired in 2009 with about eleven weeks left in the year, had total 2009 compensation of about $596,657, including his city contract and CalPERS pension income while he continued working as the El Segundo Police Chief after his retirement. Cummings’ post-retirement City employment contract acknowledged that he would be receiving his $210,000 per year CalPERS pension income while he continued working as the City’s police chief after his retirement.

Below are two tables, one showing how former El Segundo Police Chief David Cummings was paid a total of at least $596,657 in 2009, and the second showing how Cummings’ salary, vacation and sick leave payout, and pension were all spiked by the 23% raise he was given about a year before his retirement. Following these two tables is a list of links to related documents.

The following is an in-line HTML table containing the formatted spreadsheet data of former El Segundo Police Chief David Cummings’ calendar year 2009 total compensation and pension income.

Note: This Public Records Act request data was provided by the City of El Segundo, California on December 15, 2010 in response to a PRA request made by Michael D. Robbins on December 5, 2010. It is provided here as a courtesy of Michael D. Robbins and the Public Safety Project, P.O. Box 2193, El Segundo, CA 90245, PublicSafetyProject.org. The estimated (calculated) data and additional data annotations were provided by Michael D. Robbins.

David Cummings – El Segundo, California Police Chief
Paid in Calendar Year 2009
   
Pay and Income for the first 41 weeks (289 days) of 2009
(1/1/09-10/16/09):		  
   
Regular Earnings 225,627
Special Compensation (Uniform Allowance) 480
Regular Earnings + Special Comp 226,107
Leave Payout (Vacation and Sick Leave Payout) 199,668
Total Earnings 425,775
   
   
CalPERS Pension – Employer Contribution – Paid by the Employer (City) 48,894
Percentage of Regular Earnings + Special Comp – Paid by the Employer (City) 21.6%
   
CalPERS Pension – Employee Contribution – Paid by the Employer (City) 16,755
Percentage of Regular Earnings + Special Comp – Paid by the Employer (City) 7.4%
   
CalPERS Pension – Employee Contribution – Paid by the Employee 0
Percentage of Regular Earnings + Special Comp – Paid by the Employee 0.0%
   
CalPERS Pension – Employee Contribution – Total Amount Paid 16,755
Percentage of Regular Earnings + Special Comp 7.4%
   
TOTAL CALPERS PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS PAID BY THE EMPLOYER (CITY) 65,649
Percentage of Regular Earnings + Special Comp – Total Paid by the Employer (City) 29.0%
   
NOTE: CalPERS pension contributions were made for the period 1/1/09 – 10/16/09 (41 weeks)  
   
   
401(a) Deferred Compensation Plan  
401(a) Deferred Compensation Plan – Amount Paid by Employer (City) 11,592
401(a) Deferred Compensation Plan – Amount Paid by the Employee 0
401(a) Deferred Compensation Plan – Total Amount Paid 11,592
Annual Regular Earnings + Special Comp for period 9/27/08 – 9/25/09 231,839
Percentage of Regular Earnings + Special Comp 5.0%
   
Total Insurance Benefits Paid by the Employer (City)  
A D & D 17
Dental 853
Life Insurance 154
Long Term Disability 692
Executive Long Term Disability 1,031
Vision 168
TOTAL 2,915
   
Post-Employment Health Insurance for 11/09 & 12/09 2,302
   
2009 TOTAL EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION 508,233
   
   
Pay and Income for the last 11 weeks (76 days) of 2009 (10/17/09 – 12/31/09):  
   
Estimated Contract Employee Pay 43,956
(At $111 per hour x 36 hours per week average x 11 weeks)  
   
Estimated CalPERS Pension Double-Dipping Income 44,468
(At $210,213.36 per year for 11 weeks)  
   
ESTIMATED TOTAL 2009 EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION AND PENSION INCOME 596,657
(All pension income was obtained while “double-dipping” by working as a contract employee El Segundo City Police Chief)  

    Regular Earnings, Leave Payout, and Pension Benefit Spike

Police Chief David Cummings received a 23% pay increase effective October 1, 2008, about a year before his retirement, which spiked his 2009 total earnings and leave payout, and his annual pension. The raise spiked his regular earnings by $42,190 (from $183,437 to $225,627), and his accumulated vacation and sick leave payout (cash-out) value by $37,336 (from $162,332 to $199,668), for a total earnings spike of $79,527. His annual pension was spiked by an estimated $39,308 (from $170,905 to $210,213).

Police officers and firefighters are credited and allowed to accumulate and roll-over from year to year huge numbers of vacation and sick leave hours, which can be cashed out at a higher pay rate in later years and upon retirement. His total 2009 earnings was $425,775 – consisting of $225,627 Regular Earnings, $480 Special Compensation, and $199,668 Leave Payout. He retired in 2009 with a pension of $210,213.36 yearly ($17,517.78 monthly) according to CaliforniaPensionReform.com, plus medical insurance, for the rest of his life.

The following table summarizes Police Chief David Cummings’ spikes resulting from his 23% raise.

  Regular Earnings Special Comp. Overtime Leave Payout Total Earnings Yearly Pension
Before 23% Raise 183,437 480 0 162,332 346,248 170,905
After 23% Raise 225,627 480 0 199,668 425,775 210,213
Spike Amount 42,190 0 0 37,336 80,007 39,308

The reason given for Cummings’ 23% pay increase that spiked his pay, leave payout, and pension was salary compaction, also known as salary compression, caused by large pay increases given to the police union members.

Links to Related Documents: … Continue reading →

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