Monthly Archives: August 2010

An Introduction to El Segundo’s Fiscal Problems: The firefighter and police unions are the primary cause

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Mike

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

August 25, 2010
(Updated March 15, 2012 – corrected police union raises from 15 percent to 15 to 23 percent.)

The City of El Segundo, California is at risk of losing its City Fire Department and eventually its City Police Department as a result of greatly excessive and unsustainable salaries, benefits, and pensions for its public employees, especially its fire and police union members. The fire and police unions obtained their excessive and unsustainable labor contracts from mayors and City Council members who received thousands of dollars of their campaign support.

The fire and police union members are the primary cause of El Segundo’s financial problems, yet they refuse to take reasonable and necessary pay cuts of at least 20 to 25 percent. These cuts are necessary for the firefighters and police unions to stop doing harm to the city, its residents, and its businesses. And these cuts are reasonable given the excessive firefighter and police pay, benefits, and pensions, and given their excessive raises during the current recession. The police union members received 15 to 23 percent increases and the firefighters union members received an 11.25 percent increase during the recession that they never should have received.

The firefighters’ and police officers’ unions are only considering a small 5 percent reduction in the scheduled pay increases provided by their current union contract. Instead of reasonable and necessary pay cuts to stop doing harm to the city, they demand that the city increase business taxes, create new fees for residents, eliminate and reduce city services, and contract with Los Angeles County for a reduced level of fire and paramedic services, including a loss of paramedic transport services. This takeover of the El Segundo city fire department by the county would protect the firefighter union members’ jobs, pay, and benefits.

The firefighters and police unions demand that all city employees take equal pay cuts. This is extremely unfair to the other city employees, who are paid less than one-fourth to one-half what the firefighters and police are paid, and who, unlike the firefighters and police union members, are not the primary cause of the city’s financial problems.

The El Segundo Firefighters Association (a fancy name for the firefighters labor union) reminds its members, on its official web site, “Remember, the Local 3682 Board of Directors, work to represent the collective interest of our general membership.”

Thus, the firefighters union admits what we already know, that it does not represent the interests of the residents and businesses in El Segundo when it endorses political candidates at election time, advocates public policy, and sponsors a voter initiative to force our city to lose our city fire department and paramedic transport services, and have to contract with Los Angeles County for inferior fire and paramedic services for a minimum of ten years under state law. … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on An Introduction to El Segundo’s Fiscal Problems: The firefighter and police unions are the primary cause

Eye-Popping El Segundo 2009 Police Compensation Data

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Mike

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. … Continue reading →

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Eye-Popping El Segundo 2009 Police Compensation Data

Eye-Popping El Segundo 2009 City Employee Compensation Data Now Available

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Mike

PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYEES

Sworn firefighters, from the lowest level Firefighter up to the Fire Chief, and sworn police officers, from the lowest level Police Officer up to the Police Chief, are by far the highest paid city employees, with the best pay, benefits, and pensions. Generally, the firefighters earn somewhat more than the police officers.

Firefighters can retire at age 55 and police officers can retire at age 50 with up to 90% of their single highest (spiked) year of pay as their annual pension (3% per year of service). Retired firefighters and police officers live just as long as everyone else, and upon death, the surviving spouses assume the full pension as their own. Therefore, many or most of the firefighter and police pensions will be paid out for more years than the employee worked. Also, the pensions include free medical insurance for the employee and one dependent for life.

If the employee claims a disability upon retirement, or even up to five years after retirement, whether real or not, and whether caused on the job or not, half the pension income is tax-free. Many common health ailments that are caused by heredity or poor health habits are presumed to be job related under laws lobbied for by the firefighter and police unions. Continue reading →

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Eye-Popping El Segundo 2009 City Employee Compensation Data Now Available

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 →

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Highest paid El Segundo City Employee in 2009

Eye-Popping El Segundo 2009 Firefighter Compensation Data

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Mike

SWORN FIREFIGHTERS

As mentioned previously, El Segundo sworn firefighters, from lowest level Firefighter up to the Fire Chief, are by far the highest paid city employees. Generally, sworn police officers from lowest level Police Officer up to Police Captain are a close second. As we shall see, the Police Chief was by far the highest paid city employee in 2009.

The current firefighters union contract, commencing on July 1, 2008, and ending on September 30, 2011, gave the firefighters an 11.25% raise over three years during the 2008-2010 recession … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment