How many employers out there in the private sector provide Cadillac healthcare benefits to their part time employees?  The answer, of course, is virtually none.  Welcome to the “good life” of many part-time local elected officials…

As economic times have gotten extremely tough in the private sector, a lot of attention has been paid to the gold-plated salaries and benefits going to many public employees at both the state and local levels.  Whether it extreme defined benefit retirement plans that in many instances (especially for public safety employees) to retire making more money than they did when they worked, or salaries that are no longer comparable to the private sector which has seen so many reductions with the economic recession) or just the fact that those in government have not had to face the kinds of layoffs and unemployment issues.  

While these important issues have started to dominate discussions in the public square, one of the issues that is about to rise to the forefront of this conversation is the enablers – the public policy makers on whose watch such a grand disparagy has emerged between those who work to pay for the government and those who work in government.  As the focus shifts more to elected officials, I predict that there will be a high level of outrage and taxpayer revolt against part-time elected officials who are taking full-time employee benefits.  This takes place on City Councils, School Boards, Water Boards and on the boards of other agencies.

For those of you who thought that your local city council member toiled away for just that mere monthly stipend – on the contrary.

Here are a couple of examples of local part-time officials doing just fine for their part (it is like shooting fish in a barrel, though – it seems like egregious benefits for elected officials are quite common)…

In the Sacramento County suburb of Elk Grove, meet Councilman Patrick Hume.  To the untrained observer, Hume is toiling away for a mere $600 monthly stipend – a true giver.   But what city residents may not know is that Hume is offered gold-plated healthcare benefits from the taxpayers for his part-time gig – benefits which he apparently (based on a review of public documents) does not take.  But what he does take is payment in lieu of the healthcare – which would answer why city records his total wages from the city on his 2009 W-2 at close to $16,000.  Oh yes, Hume also is a participant in the city’s generous defined benefits program (2.7% of annual compensation times years of service, collectable after the age of 55).  In theory, this wouldn’t even include all of the various payments that the myriad of agencies to which Hume represents the city pay him in fees for attending meetings.   Thanks for being a “friend of the taxpayer” Councilman Hume (a Republican, even!).

Huntington Beach, California’s “Surf City” as it is located along many miles of spectacular beaches in Orange County, has a large, part-time Council.  These folks are really on the austerity plan as volunteers – with an annual stipend of just $2100!  Truly a deal.  But wait, based on public records it appears that every Councilmember is on a taxpayer-funded healthcare plan, and some of them are even in a deferred compensation program.  All of them are happily participating in their city’s defined contribution program.  Despite their small “stipend”  of $2100, W-2 income for Huntington Beach’s elected range from $13,500 to about $20,500.  Of course deferred comp wouldn’t show up as W-2 income at all…

I bring up Huntington Beach specifically because a particularly egregious story made the newspapers lately.  A Councilmember, Joe Carchio, it turns out rather secretly divorced his wife – but never notified the city’s human resources department so that they could take her off of the taxpayer-funded healthcare benefit (which is apparently extended to family members).  So she kept getting the benefit for over a year!  Carchio, once this became public, repaid the city for the costs – but it certainly served to shine the light on a benefit that most people were unaware was offered to a part-time official.

Here is a recent article exposing where local water board members of the Irvine Ranch Water District are literally collecting “fees” (money from the taxpayers) for representing their agency at a swanky party commemorating the opening of a hospital.  But that’s okay, right?  Since the water going to the hospital is provided by their district????  

As I said above, you can find examples of these kinds of abuses in almost every county and in almost every city.

You can imagine that it is difficult for local elected officials to make a big deal about lavish pay and benefits for their city, district or agency employees when they know that they too are at the trough, taking advantage of taxpayers, and doing so in such a non-transparent way so as to almost make it a cover up.

If you are one of these local officials (Mr. Hume?, Mr. Carchio?), now is the time for you to drop healthcare benefits (or the insidious practice of declining them and taking a cash payment in lieu of the benefit you shouldn’t even have).  It’s time for you to stop participating in CalPERS or other retirement systems.  And it is time for you to stop taking as much as thousands of dollars in payments for attending meetings that you knew were part of the gig when you signed up for your part-time, volunteer position.

The taxpayers need the funds that go towards these “goodies” for you to instead go to pay for pension liabilities, or to backfill payments for services with more local money having to go to make up pension liabilities.

Come clean now – because you will not be trusted as a local official to solve these problems while you are part of them.  If you think your position entitles you to more money than whatever modest stipend is already in place, then with full-openness agendize increasing it.  You’ll be honest with the voters, and they can decide if they like that idea.

On a closing note to full-time elected officials, such as County Supervisors and some Councilmembers of larger cities – you need to lead the pension reform battle by addressing first your own retirement benefits, and immediately moving to a 401k style defined benefit system.   And while you may have “rights” to the older, more generous system, the voters can decide if you should keep your jobs if you aren’t willing to voluntarily move to something more respectful of the taxpayers.

P.S.  The State of California now lists out salary and compensation information for most county and city governments.  This is a good place to start if you want to see what kind of compensation your elected officials are making.  Listed in with employees are Supervisors and Councilmembers (are these “employees”???).  You can check out if they get healthcare, how big their stipend is, or if they are in the retirement system.  Check out those databases (counties, cities) here.  This doesn’t help you with other local districts, and not all cities have sent in their info.  But it is a starting point.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.