Something Fishy About Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 27, 2014 in the Letters section on page 16. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Something Fishy About Measure A

Mayor Fisher is threatening to contract out our fire services to County if we don’t approve his Measure A tax hikes. These are empty threats. There’s no advantage in outsourcing. It would reduce services – not save money. 90% of voters rejected Measure P to outsource fire services. Clearly, we can do a referendum against an ordinance to outsource services.

Last year City Council raised Chevron’s taxes by more than $8.5 million average per year for 15 years. And the Council can save many millions of dollars per year by getting the employee compensation and pension cost increases under control.

All residents will pay much more of the $6.6 million annual Measure A taxes than the “Yes on A” campaign mailer claims. We will pay the new business taxes that are passed on to us as customers, in addition to the new taxes on our electricity, water, gas, landline and cellular telephone, cable TV, satellite, and Internet bills.

The money won’t go for schools or infrastructure. The City Attorney said the resolution on how to spend the money is not binding, and only language in the ballot measure can be binding. Fisher chose the non-binding route – he refused to put language in the ballot measure for money to schools and infrastructure!

The money will go for huge past and future fire and police union pay raises and resulting pension cost increases. That’s why the fire union donated $5,000 to the “Yes on A” campaign!

– Marianne Fong

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Something Fishy About Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

NO ON “A” – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Art Lavalle

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 27, 2014 in the Letters section on page 13. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

NO ON “A”

You already live in one of the most heavily taxed states in the country. Why would you want to add to your family’s burden? City operating costs have not gone down as claimed. They will not, until we have a council that is willing to confront the unions and demand realistic pay and retirement contracts for city employees. Look at all the new construction in town in the last few years on top of the Chevron settlement. Each provided large amounts of additional revenue to the city. Yet, the increased inflow will never be enough to pay for the city employee’s union contracts that your council has approved. Do not give the council more money to waste. Look at the candidates that receive backing from these unions. The cities unions are backing candidates that will give them more of your tax dollars.

– Art Lavalle

Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on NO ON “A” – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Art Lavalle

Measure “A” – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jane Waag Friedkin, Former Councilwoman

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 27, 2014 in the Letters section on page 13. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Measure “A”

I urge residents to read Measure A in its entirety. You will find there is not a sunset clause on the tax increase, but simply reduces the 2.5% to 2% in 2017, creating a “forever” tax.

I firmly believe, based on current and past irresponsible deficit spending by our city council, and the persistent mentality of all elected officials, is to raise taxes every time they overspend.

Raising taxes discourages new businesses from coming to El Segundo. Don’t’ believe the threats made by the “Vote Yes on A”. They do not have residents best interests in mind. They only say what they want you to believe. Let these “well to do Yes on A” contributors write a check to the city in any amount they want and as often as the want. They can write off whatever they give on their federal tax.

Another important point to consider – it now takes only 50% of voters to pass the tax increase, not the 2/3 as in the past. Please get out and vote No on Measure A.

The City Attorney said, “The resolution on how to spend the money is non-binding.” This Council chose the non-binding route.

Please vote and vote No on Measure A.

– Jane Waag Friedkin, Former Councilwoman

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Measure “A” – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jane Waag Friedkin, Former Councilwoman

Thoughts on TopGolf – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Tom Courtney

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 27, 2014 in the Letters section on page 16. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Thoughts on TopGolf

I’m glad that Bill Fisher has decided to make his support of TopGolf a major campaign issue. Golfers are opposed because the model prices the average golfer out of the market, $30-40 per large bucket at normal, peak practice times. Fisher minimizes the opposition, calls them misinformed and disregards the fact that over 1400 people signed a petition urging the council to keep the Lakes the same, over 300 of which were El Segundo residents.

The deal – a twenty year lease, with six 5 year options, at $425,000 a year , increasing only 10% every five years. There is no sharing in revenues, Wooddale, Ill negotiated a sharing of revenues including alcohol sales, why not here? The lease calls for the facility to be built like that in Austin.

Staff came up with a positive TopGolf economic effect of $332,000 (currently estimated at $ 200-300,000) – repeated by Mr. Fisher as a reason why he voted for it. The truth, TopGolf is a negative for the City-the driving range is highly profitable, $550,000 and rising per year. The city gets to their “positive” number by relying on “assumed” savings of $253,000 and by mistreating overhead allocations, charging the range income but not TopGolf income.

TopGolf is not the answer!

– Tom Courtney

Note by Michael D. Robbins:

I championed construction of The Lakes at El Segundo city golf course and driving range when I campaigned for City Council, and after I was elected to the El Segundo City Council. I followed through diligently to help get it built as had long been promised to the community before I ran for City Council.

El Segundo Mayor Bill Fisher and Councilmembers David Atkinson and Marie Fellhauer, who usually vote in lock-step with Fisher, voted to give TopGolf what is effectively a 50-year lease of the City-owned Golf Course driving range, in the form of a 20-year lease with six 5-year options for TopGolf to unilaterally extend the lease. Most El Segundo voters will be dead before the City can regain control over its golf course property.

A 50-year lease of the City of El Segundo’s golf course driving range property is totally irresponsible and unjustifiable, whether or not TopGolf will to an adequate job providing golf services on that City-owned property.

Mayor Pro Tem Carl Jacobson and Councilmember Suzanne Fuentes voted against the 50-year lease.

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Letters to the Editor, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Thoughts on TopGolf – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Tom Courtney

Welcome to the City of El Segundo $100K+ CalPERS Pension Club!

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Mike

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

March 25, 2014

Below is a list of City of El Segundo, California employees who retired with California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) pensions paying them $100,000 or more per year. The highest annual pension for El Segundo is $198,272.04. El Segundo is a small City with about 5.5 square miles of land area and about 16,849 residents in 2012.

CalPERS pensions are Defined Benefit Plans that guarantee retirees their full pension payments, regardless of how much was paid into the pension fund and regardless of the performance of the pension plan’s investment portfolio, with taxpayers obligated to make up the difference. In contrast, 401(k) plans, which are common in the private sector, are Defined Contribution Plans, where the benefits paid out to retirees depends on how much was paid into the retirement plan, and on the performance of the investment funds the employees individually selected from the available choices.

The CalPERS pensions are so high because the City employee salaries are so high, especially for the firefighter and police employees, and because the City provides the employees with the maximum allowable pension formula. The annual pension income from firefighter and police CalPERS pensions is 3% of the single highest year salary for each year they worked, up to a maximum of 90%, with retirement at age 50 or 55. Upon retirement, firefighters and police live just as long as miscellaneous (non-safety) employees – about age 83 for the men and 85 for the women – and the life expectancy keeps increasing over time with medical advances.

Thus, the taxpayers end up paying for at least two fire and police departments – the ones doing the work, and the ones enjoying long lavish retirements while receiving multi-million dollar pensions.

The salary upon which CalPERS pensions are based includes all those “Special Compensation” add-ons in the union contracts, that average an additional 33% on top of base salary for El Segundo police and firefighters. “Special Compensation” is paid even for things that are already existing job requirements or are unrelated to the job, including wearing a uniform and having a driver license.

For example, fire engineers (second-level firefighters) whose job description includes driving the fire engine are paid additional “Special Compensation” under their union contract to have a driver license to drive the fire engine. All “Special Compensation” increases the salary counted towards the pension payout and the pension cost to the City’s taxpayers.

The elected City Council controls pension costs in three significant ways: (1) Amounts of employee salaries, which are increased by pay raises and “Special Compensation”; (2) Percentage of total pension contributions employees are required to pay; and (3) Pension plan options the City provides.

Firefighter and police pensions pay 3% of their single highest year salary for each year worked, up to 90%. El Segundo Mayor Bill Fisher supported firefighter and police pay raises of 11.25% to 32.3% over three years, plus additional 5% annual “Step” raises, approved 4/7/09 and 12/2/08, jacking up pension costs.

The El Segundo City Council can save more than $3.3 million yearly by requiring City employees to pay half their total pension contributions, as allowed under state law effective 1/1/13. The City now pays 71% to 94% of total pension contributions.

The City Council can save several million more yearly by eliminating automatic additional 5% annual “Step” raises, and “Special Compensation” for things that are existing job requirements or are unrelated to the job.

These savings must be negotiated with the City unions later this year, after the April 8, 2014 election. Measure A is on the ballot for that election. Measure A bundles ELEVEN TAX HIKES in one ballot measure. The Measure A tax windfall will weaken the City Council’s bargaining position and preclude these savings.

The source of the annual pension data in the following table is the FixPensionsFirst.com website, $100K Pension Club, CalPERS Database for the City of El Segundo, as of March 3, 2014:

Seq Nbr Name Employer Annual Pension Notes
1 CUMMINGS, DAVID A EL SEGUNDO $198,272.04 Police Chief
2 PHIPPS, MAX V EL SEGUNDO $188,663.88 Police Captain
3 WAYT, JOHN O EL SEGUNDO $182,888.52 Police Chief, City Manager
4 CLEARY, CRAIG M EL SEGUNDO $182,736.12 Police Detective
5 KRUMBACH, WALTER G EL SEGUNDO $181,120.80 Police Lieutenant
6 REHM, KEVIN A EL SEGUNDO $172,516.08 Fire Captain, Fire Union President
7 GILBERT, JOHN W EL SEGUNDO $157,825.08 Administrative Fire Battalion Chief
8 GRIMMOND, TIMOTHY J EL SEGUNDO $155,639.40 Police Chief
9 SHARP, DAVID K EL SEGUNDO $150,956.64
10 MOORE, ERIC R EL SEGUNDO $148,117.32 Fire Batallion Chief
11 STEPHENSON, ROGER A EL SEGUNDO $145,522.92 Police Sergeant
12 PEDEGO, CRAIG S EL SEGUNDO $143,546.52
13 LAMBETH, PHILIP R EL SEGUNDO $140,140.32
14 PABST, RODNEY K EL SEGUNDO $138,527.64
15 BARKDULL, DAVID G EL SEGUNDO $131,716.08
16 COLES, GLENN A EL SEGUNDO $129,782.28
17 GREEN, RONALD R EL SEGUNDO $126,920.28
18 GRAHAM, ALLISON H EL SEGUNDO $126,878.52
19 NESSEL, LINDA P EL SEGUNDO $125,829.60
20 HYLAND, ROBERT F EL SEGUNDO $124,342.56 Human Resources Director
21 BIBEE, JOHN C EL SEGUNDO $121,954.44 Fire Battalion Chief
22 MEEHAN, FRANK V EL SEGUNDO $119,478.00 Police Chief, City Manager
23 AFFINITO, ANTHONY F EL SEGUNDO $119,103.12 Fire Dept
24 CHIDESTER, MICHAEL J EL SEGUNDO $111,022.08
25 STRENN, MARY L EL SEGUNDO $110,457.60 City Manager
26 LEWIS, GEORGE M EL SEGUNDO $110,212.56
27 SELLENS, JOHN P EL SEGUNDO $110,020.56 Police Sergeant or Lieutenant?, Police Union President?
28 CHISLOCK, PAUL EL SEGUNDO $109,370.64
29 DEVARAJ, BELLUR K EL SEGUNDO $107,496.84 Planner or City Engineer?
30 BRENNER, TIMOTHY K EL SEGUNDO $106,392.60
31 VUKELICH-POR, CHRISTINE K EL SEGUNDO $106,043.40
32 MORRISON, JAMES W EL SEGUNDO $105,971.40 City Manager
33 CROWE, WILLIAM A EL SEGUNDO $103,935.24 Assistant City Manager?
34 RADFORD, ROBIN S EL SEGUNDO $103,430.28
35 BRUMLEY, LARRY M EL SEGUNDO $102,864.24
36 REDFORD, YVONNE C EL SEGUNDO $102,621.96 Police Officer
37 SALISBURY, FREDERICK R EL SEGUNDO $101,806.44
38 ANGELO, NORMAN G EL SEGUNDO $101,684.40
TOTAL PER YEAR $5,005,808.40

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Welcome to the City of El Segundo $100K+ CalPERS Pension Club!

No on Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Helen Armstrong

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

No on Measure A

Mayor Fisher and his sidekicks, David Atkinson and Marie Fellhauer, want us to believe they may voluntarily reduce our taxes in the future if we approve Measure A and give them four permanent new taxes on residents, permanently increase five existing business taxes, and create a new permanent parking tax.

How can we trust them? They back-stabbed their colleague Mayor Carl Jacobson in a coup they staged at the 5/21/13 City Council meeting. They voted to remove Jacobson from the office of Mayor in the middle of his two-year term, without any legitimate justification!

This break with tradition and decency is unprecedented since at least 1940, and probably in El Segundo history. Jacobson won re-election in 2012 with by far the most votes, despite the sleazy and dishonest campaign against him by fired city manager Doug Willmore, KCET television and the Los Angeles Times.

The Fisher Majority staged their coup so Fisher could run for re-election as Mayor rather than Council Member. This also gives Fisher more clout in negotiating new long-term City employee union contracts and raises later this year after the April election.

I urge everyone to vote “No” on the permanent Measure A Tax Hikes, and for Mike Dugan and Suzanne Fuentes. Dugan and Fuentes will help give us greater transparency in government, fiscal responsibility, and respect the residents and taxpayers deserve. Fisher will give us more of his arrogance, bluster and irresponsible tax-and-spend policies. Vote for the workhorses, not the show pony.

– Helen Armstrong

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Letters to the Editor, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on No on Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Helen Armstrong

Frustration – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Frustration

Make no mistake; my ideology is conservative, and I experience frustration daily about runaway spending at the national level. However, this situation needn’t necessarily apply to residents having a 90245 zip code. Currently there is a lot of community unhappiness about the cost of doing business in El Segundo…else, why is Measure ‘A’ on the ballot? Our elected officials must be held responsible, since only they have authority to tax and spend in our town.

Candidates Fuentes and Dugan are both skilled practitioners of modern management and leadership principles used by local major corporations. Such skills are sorely needed to help right the ship, since we are clearly on an unsustainable fiscal path using current practices. Efficient management and leadership provide the key to improvement, combined with a lot of tough love to effect the changes.

Drastic improvements won’t happen overnight. After all, we have experienced nearly two decades of government wherein our representatives seem more concerned about pleasing outside interests and providing employee perks rather than serving the needs and wishes of our voters. Otherwise, how does one explain granting $150K salaries for mid-level managers and shuttering City Hall every Friday?

As responsible voters, it is vitally important to scrutinize the background and credentials of all candidates to see if they are up to the task. Lets’ put the aforementioned people in the wheelhouse April 8, and start the torturous process of eliminating wasteful spending habits acquired these past few years.

– Richard J. Switz

Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Frustration – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz

Eleven El Segundo Police Department Positions “Eliminated” were Actually 911 Dispatchers Transferred to the South Bay Regional Public Communications (SBRPC) Authority

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Mike

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

March 22, 2014

Mayor Bill Fisher Continues his Campaign of Deception as He Runs for Re-Election

El Segundo Mayor Bill Fisher wants voters to believe he reduced the City’s wildly excessive and unsustainable employee compensation costs by reducing City employee salaries by significant amounts. He also wants us to believe there were substantial numbers of City employee layoffs. These are not true.

The Schedule of Authorized Employees in the Fiscal Year 2011/12 City of El Segundo Adopted Budget (B11 – Employee Summary) deceptively reflects 11 Police Department positions as being eliminated.

11 Emergency Dispatchers who were transferred from the City of El Segundo to the South Bay Regional Public Communications (SBRPC) Authority to handle El Segundo 911 calls appear in the FY 2011/12 El Segundo City Budget as eliminated Police Department positions and implied layoffs.

In fact, those positions were transferred to another government agency. The positions were not police officers. They were 911 emergency dispatchers in the Police Services Support Employees (PSSE) union. They were transferred to the South Bay Regional Public Communications (SBRPC) Authority when the City shut down its 911 emergency dispatch center and went back to its previous practice of contracting with the SBRPC Authority for emergency dispatch services.

Thus, it is misleading to characterize these 11 Police Department employees as layoffs, because each one was still employed doing the same work for the City and ultimately paid by the City. The City still paid their salaries and benefits through the City’s payments to the SBRPC Authority. Each dispatcher was given $3,000 in transfer compensation and a guarantee that his or her base salary will increase or remain equivalent upon transfer to the SBRPC Authority.

For proof of this, Click HERE to see the April 6, 2010 El Segundo City Council Meeting Agenda, Consent Agenda Item E9 (PDF file pages 250-265) – Agreement for amendments to the Police Services Support Employees (PSSE) Union Memorandum of Understanding (MOU/Labor Agreement), and Item E10 (PDF file pages 266-274) – Agreement between the City of El Segundo and the SBRPC Authority for Emergency 911 Dispatch services. (8.75 MB PDF file)

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Eleven El Segundo Police Department Positions “Eliminated” were Actually 911 Dispatchers Transferred to the South Bay Regional Public Communications (SBRPC) Authority

2009-2010 City of El Segundo Separations due to Budgetary Reasons Mostly Early Retirements

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Mike

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

March 20, 2014

Mayor Bill Fisher Continues his Campaign of Deception as He Runs for Re-Election

El Segundo Mayor Bill Fisher wants voters to believe he reduced the City’s wildly excessive and unsustainable employee compensation costs by reducing City employee salaries by significant amounts. He also wants us to believe there were substantial numbers of City employee layoffs. These are not true.

Fisher supported wildly excessive pay raises of 11.25% to 32.3% over three years for the already overpaid firefighter and police unions and their managers. These raises were approved by the City Council on April 7, 2009 and December 2, 2008, long after the Great Recession began, and include retroactive raises effective 6 and 9 months before they were approved on April 7, 2009. These raises were in addition to the automatic 5% “Step” raises firefighters and police are given each year for the four or five years after they year they are assigned to a new job position.

See City of El Segundo Can Save $3.3 Million Per Year in Employee Pension Costs for more details and documentation on those raises.

City employees received huge permanent pay raises, but most of their “concessions” were temporary, with the net result being increased employee compensation and increased pension costs to the City. Concessions included things like temporary one-time “unpaid” furlough days, which are like unpaid vacation days, and temporary suspension of cash-outs of accumulated unused vacation and sick leave hours. The firefighters and police were paid “Special Compensation” for those “unpaid” furlough days, which averages 33.5% of their regular earnings.

The alleged “reductions in salary” were achieved by temporary unpaid furlough days, temporary suspension of cash-out of accumulated unused vacation and sick leave hours, temporary reduction in overtime hours in 2010, and early retirements – many of them with lucrative and expensive incentives. No employees had their hourly pay rates reduced.

There were 26 City employee separations in 2009 and 2010 for budgetary reasons, and only 5 of those were layoffs. The rest were early retirements.

The employee separation data is shown in the following table, which was obtained by El Segundo resident Marc Rener through a California Public Records Act request.


2009-2010 City of El Segundo Employee Separations
due to Budgetary Reasons

Last Name First Name Position Title Reason for Separation Termination Date
Andoe Judy Recreation Superintendent Early Retirement 10/05/2009
Matthews Shirley Senior Administrative Specialist Early Retirement 10/05/2009
Cluff Loretta Accounting Technician Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Fuller Barbara Library Clerk I Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Gucayane Ray Wastewater Maintenance Worker II Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Leslie Jr. Nelson Dispatcher II Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Marion Marcia Accounts Specialist II Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Mc Leod Jeanne Senior Management Analyst Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Puerta Edward Street Maintwrker II Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Rami Renuka Library Assistant Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Tyagi Suresh Plan Check Engineer Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Ward Richard Fire Equipmt Mechanic Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Tobiason Ramona Senior Administrative Specialist Early Retirement 12/30/2009
Gossett Evelyn License/Permit Specialist II Early Retirement 01/15/2010
Gabig Ashling Crime Scene Investigator I Layoff 09/30/2010
Ley Chris Community Cable Program Specialist Layoff 09/30/2010
Luna Sandra Police Assistant I Layoff 09/30/2010
Murphy Arthur Park Maintenance Supervisor Layoff 09/30/2010
Severin Heather Principal Environmental Specialist Layoff 09/30/2010
Nemeth Kathryn Administrative Analyst Early Retirement 11/18/2010
Bonilla Elisa Library Assistant Early Retirement 12/17/2010
Crowe William Assistant City Manager Early Retirement 12/30/2010
Kozykoski Betsy Office Specialist I Early Retirement 12/30/2010
Lewis Mary Senior Administrative Specialist Early Retirement 12/30/2010
Mitsuda Janis Police Service Officer Early Retirement 12/30/2010
Thorn Norman Information Systems Manager Early Retirement 12/30/2010

Click HERE to view or download the PDF file provided by the City of El Segundo in response to that CPRA request, which contains the data table titled, 2009-2010 City of El Segundo Employee Separations due to Budgetary Reasons. (17 KB PDF file)

Right-Click HERE to download a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file containing the data on 2009-2010 City of El Segundo Employee Separations due to Budgetary Reasons. (17 KB XLSX file)

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2009-2010 City of El Segundo Separations due to Budgetary Reasons Mostly Early Retirements

A Correction is In Order – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 13, 2014 in the Letters section on page 7. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

However, the El Segundo Herald editor omitted the third paragraph because it referenced a web site.

A Correction is In Order

The 3/6/14 Herald article, “Council Holds Off on Rec and Parks Fee Decision”, contained misinformation. City property tax revenue is more than $6 million – not about $1 million as the author misinterpreted from Mayor Fisher’s obfuscation.

The property tax revenue numbers I cited at the 3/4/14 Council meeting are from official City of El Segundo public record documents and are presumably correct. Based on those documents, I stated during the meeting that El Segundo property tax revenue for fiscal year 2012/13 was more than $6.3 million, is at a record high for at least since FY 2000/01, is 46% and about $2 million higher than FY 2000/01, has had an average annual increase of 3.6% and more than $166,000 per year, and has increased in 9 of the last 13 fiscal years.

See the article, “Wrong Time to Raise Taxes and Fees in El Segundo”, at PublicSafetyProject.org. In includes a bar chart showing property tax revenue from FY 2000/01 through 2012/13, the data for that chart, and a link to the City public record document that is the source of that data.

Fisher wants voters to believe property tax revenue is to blame, not big pay raises. Fisher’s number only includes residential property tax revenue to minimize tax revenue and because of his misguided and unsound belief that residents don’t pay enough taxes. Residents pay business taxes that are passed on to them as customers, and defense contractors are paid from our federal income taxes.

Mike Robbins


Bar chart of the City of El Segundo, California property tax revenues for fiscal years 2000/2001 through 2012/2013, using data from official City of El Segundo records.

Bar chart of the City of El Segundo, California property tax revenues for fiscal years 2000/2001 through 2012/2013, using data from official City of El Segundo records.

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Correction is In Order – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins