Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, October 13, 2018

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SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain Views-News Saturday, Octorber 13, 2018 

Easy Voter Guides have Arrived

FAQs on South Pasadena Budget and Spending

 The South Pasadena 
Library has free copies 
of the League of Women 
Voters non-partisan Easy 
Voter Guide in English, 
Chinese, Korean, and 
Spanish. Visit the Library’s 
Voter Information page for 
a roundup of resources for 
voters, including finding 
a polling place, getting 
registered, and researching 
candidates, measures, and 
endorsements.

 For more information 
about the November 6, 
General Municipal Election, 
including Measure N and 
South Pasadena election 
districts visit the City Clerk’s 
Elections page.

 Interested in voting by 
mail? On October 9th, the 
Los Angeles Registrar-
Recorder/County Clerk 
began mailing out the new 
and improved Vote by Mail 
packet for the November 
6th General Election to 2.2 
million permanent vote by 
mail voters. The new Vote 
by Mail packet includes a 
new full-face ballot, return 
envelope, secrecy sleeve and 
“I Voted” sticker. No postage 
necessary. For FAQ, tutorials, 
and more information visit 
the Los Angeles Registrar-
Recorder/County Clerk 
visit: lavote.net.

 

 Measure N on the November 
6, ballot will ask voters in South 
Pasadena to repeal the City’s 
Utility Users Tax. A “yes” vote 
on Measure N is to eliminate the 
tax; a “no” vote is to retain it. A 
repeal of the tax would cut $3.4 
million from the City budget 
and force significant service 
cuts and layoffs in nearly all City 
departments, as indicated in 
previous fiscal impact analysis. 
Measure N has raised questions 
in the community about 
the South Pasadena budget 
and spending priorities. The 
following FAQs are intended as 
information to address those 
questions.

Has the City’s general fund 
spending increased in recent 
years?

 Yes. In 2011, the City Council 
made a strategic decision to 
increase its investments in 
critical infrastructure such 
as street repairs by spending 
some of its reserves for this 
purpose. The City’s general fund 
has indeed seen a cumulative 
increase of $4.4 million due 
to an increase of $3 million 
in property tax revenue, and 
increases in sales taxes and 
service fees, in the seven-year 
period following 2011. The 
City’s spending increased by a 
cumulative total of $9.5 million 
over the same seven years, which 
included spending reserves 
for the purpose of investing 
in critical infrastructure 
improvements that reflected 
strong community demand for 
street repairs and maintenance.

 In 2011, the City Council made 
a commitment to improving, 
rehabilitating, and replacing 
its aging infrastructure. At that 
time, the overall street condition 
in the City was measured with a 
very low Pavement Condition 
Index (PCI) score of 61 (on a 
100 point scale). The backlog 
of street repairs citywide was 
estimated at $60 million.

 Beginning in FY 2012-13, 
annual appropriations for street 
and sidewalk improvements 
averaged $2 million a year from 
General Fund reserves. In total, 
the City has spent over $11 
million to fund street projects 
out of the City’s General Fund 
since FY 2012-13. The additional 
General Fund spending was 
the direct result of these 
infrastructure investments.

Did the spending increase 
due to employee salaries and 
benefits?

 No. Increased spending 
between 2011 and 2018 was 
because of transparent and 
strategic decisions to invest in 
infrastructure projects -- not 
to pay or enhance employee 
salaries and benefits. 

 In fact, South Pasadena 
employee salaries and benefits 
have been and continue to be 
among the lowest in Southern 
California.

 A recent survey showed that 
South Pasadena salaries fall 
below the median salary of 
adjacent cities. The median 
annual salary for all full-time 
employees is $68,184. The 
City did not increase wages 
or provide a Cost of Living 
Adjustment (COLA) as part of 
the approved labor contracts for 
2018 and 2019.

 Further, a survey conducted 
in 2017 indicated that South 
Pasadena employees receive 
among the lowest total benefits 
for medical, dental and vision 
insurance when compared to 
other public agencies in the 
region.

 The City offers the lowest 
retirement formula permitted by 
CalPERS. For classic members, 
the City offers the lowest of 
six retirement formulas for 
miscellaneous employees (2% 
@ 55) and the lowest of eight 
retirement formulas for public 
safety employees (2% @ 50). 
Over the years, this results in 
significantly lower financial 
liabilities for the City when 
compared to many neighboring 
cities that offer higher retirement 
formulas. By comparison, 
the industry standard is 2.5% 
for miscellaneous employees 
and 3% at 50 for public safety 
employees. Some cities pay 
as high as 2.7% at 55 for 
miscellaneous employees.

 The number of employees also 
impacts municipal pension 
costs. The City’s number of staff 
per capita is roughly half of that 
for larger cities such as Pasadena. 
There were no increases in 
the number of employees in 
the adopted budget for FY 18-
19, and in the last five years 
only three full time positions 
were added, all of which were 
conversions of existing contract 
employees to City employees.

 Finally, South Pasadena 
employees pay 100% of the 
employee’s contribution for their 
defined benefit retirement plan. 
In the past, it was common for 
cities to pay both the employer 
and the employee contributions. 
South Pasadena has shifted all of 
the employee contribution costs 
to the employee.

What about future pension 
costs? 

 The City has implemented all 
feasible pension cost reduction 
strategies available under the 
law. The significantly rising 
costs faced by cities are a result of 
policy changes and investment 
decisions made at the State level 
by the CalPERS Pension Board.

 CalPERS’ investments suffered 
greatly from the economic 
recession that began in 2008, 
when the system suffered a 
gross impact of nearly 35% loss 
to its investment funds. As a 
result, CalPERS has become 
much more conservative in its 
estimates of return, and has 
shifted policies to account for 
longer lifespans among retirees, 
fewer active/working members 
in relationship to the number 
of retirees, and other factors. 
The financial impacts are not 
limited to South Pasadena; cities 
across the State are struggling to 
comply with the new demands.]

 In the future, pension liabilities 
will be reduced as a result of 
pension reform at the State 
level. The California Legislature 
took a significant step to lower 
future pension costs with the 
California Public Employees’ 
Pension Reform Act (PEPRA), 
which took effect in January 
2013. The legislation changes 
the way CalPERS retirement 
and health benefits are applied 
and places compensation limits 
on retirees. Under PEPRA, 
retirement formulas are further 
reduced and the retirement age 
increased. 

Could the City leave CalPERS 
in favor of a 401(k)-type plan 
for employees?

 Terminating its contract 
with CalPERS will trigger a 
termination fee imposed by 
CalPERS that would increase 
pension costs substantially. 
Upon termination, the 
exiting agency is required to 
prepay all contractual future 
pension obligations, which 
are determined by a CalPERS 
actuary. This is like accelerating 
all the payments that would ever 
be due for all current retirees’ and 
existing employees’ retirement 
pensions and requiring the 
existing city to pay that amount 
up front. South Pasadena would 
be subject to extremely high fees 
that would make an exit from 
CalPERS unfeasible.

Could a City require new hires 
to accept a 401(k) type plan, in 
lieu of CalPERS?

 No, the City has no authority 
under its agreement with 
CalPERS to unilaterally 
determine that new hires cannot 
participate in the CalPERS 
retirement system.


New South Pasadena 
Poet Laureate Pens 'Ode 
to South Pasadena'

San Marino 
Open 
Volunteer 
Positions

 
Ron Koertge, (pictured right) 
South Pasadena’s first poet 
laureate, has written “Ode 
to South Pasadena.” It’s a 
commemorative poem about 
the city, looking back as it also 
celebrates South Pasadena’s 
vibrant present.

 A widely published writer 
and recipient of many awards, 
as poet laureate Ron is an 
ambassador for poetry, reading 
his poems and poems by others 
at various functions all around 
the city. 

 Along with more than sixty 
poet laureates from all over 
California, on October 6 Ron 
appeared at the McGroaty Arts 
Center in Tujunga for a free, 
public reading. 

 As he was composing the 
“Ode to South Pasadena,” 
Ron asked for ideas from the 
community and the response 
was enthusiastic. So in a sense, 
the ode is a collaborative effort. 
The full poem can be found at 
southpasadenaca.gov. Click on 
“News.” 

 Koertge’s most recent book 
of poems is Olympusville, 
from Red Hen, a Pasadena-
based independent press. He 
can be contacted by e-mail at 
ronkoepoet@mail.com.

 The City of San Marino is 
seeking a volunteer to fill an 
opening for the Alternate 
position of the

Public Safety Commission 
beginning immediately. 
The City of San Marino is 
also seeking a volunteer 
to fill an opening for the 
Alternate position of the 
Design Review Committee 
beginning immediately.

 Contact Administrative 
Analyst/Deputy City Clerk 
Nia Hernandez at (626) 300-
0705 or email

 nhernandez@
cityofsanmarino.org for 
further information or 
you may download the 
Commission

Application from the 
City’s website at www.
cityofsanmarino.org

Deadline for submitting 
applications is Friday, 
October 26, 2018 at 5:00 PM 
to:

San Marino City Hall

c/o Nia Hernandez, 
Administrative Analyst/
Deputy City Clerk

2200 Huntington Drive

San Marino, CA 91108

San Marino Free Self 

Serve Compost Giveaway

 

 A free compost giveaway self-
serve event will be held on 
Saturday, October 27th from 
9 a.m. until noon at Lacy Park 
in San Marino in the west end 
parking lot. Bring your own 
sturdy containers. There is 
a 30-gallon limit during the 
first hour and no limit from 
10 a.m. until noon, or while 
supplies last Plastic bags are not 
allowed. Bring your ID card or 
Athens bill.

 For more information, contact 
Ed Chen at (626) 703-9726 or 
chen@athensservices.com. or 
Ron Serven, Code Enforcement 
Manager at (626) 300-0789 or 
rserven@cityofsanmarino.org 
or Dana Hang, Administrative 
Analyst at (626) 300-0765.

South Pasadena 
Police Warn of 
Car Break-ins

Frankenstein Meets Little 
Women: A Monster Mash

 Before you turn in for the 
night, remember to lock 
your car, take your keys and 
hide your belongings. These 
simple steps can help deter 
thieves looking for an easy 
target to steal from. Officers 
are stepping up patrols, but 
we also need your assistance 
to help prevent these crimes. 

 For South Pasadena Police 
Non-Emergency Calls 626-
403-7270.

 

 

 

 Artists Celebrate the 
Anniversaries of Two 
Literary Classics on Oct. 20 
at 7:00 p.m. to 8:59 p.m.

The event will be held at 
the South Pasadena Library 
Community Room 1115 El 
Centro Street

Featuring artwork by

Patience Anders

Mike Bell

Joan Charles

Steven Corvelo

Tony Gleeson

Gris Grimly

Douglas W. Kirk

Tim Kirk

Tanya Maiboroda

Cassie Meder

Dany Paragouteva

Curated by Valerie E. Weich

 Exhibition Opening 
Reception 


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