60,000 ANCHOR BABIES ARE BORN EACH YEAR... JUST IN TEXAS!
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QUICK SYNOPSIS: Jim Righeimer says that more than salaries need to be published.
In addition, the CM PRESS says that citizens need to be aware that there are actually three separate local government bodies in Costa Mesa, all taking our money, not just one local government body as in many other cities, and each of the three government bodies has five elected members and staff that we are paying for.
Our view: Costa Mesa should follow the Newport Beach model and roll it's two other government bodies into the regular City government and have our five City Council members run everything as the City Council members in Newport do. This would provide economy of scale and avoid duplicate expenses.
VERBOSE VERSION: Jim Righeimer,one of the two good-for-Costa Mesa City Council candidates this year (the other good-for-Costa Mesa City Council candidate is Wendy Leece), has a nice letter in the Daily Pilot today that you can read at the above link.
In essence, what Righeimer correctly points out is the fact that the public can be fooled if only the City employee salaries are made public as some cities, including Costa Mesa, are now saying they'll do.
Righeimer writes: "In addition to salary, you need overtime, vacation pay, sick pay, certificate pay, health benefits taken in cash, miscellaneous pay, the portion of pension contribution that the city pays, and the employees' portion of pension contributions that is also paid for by the city. You might be surprised to see how many different forms of compensation a city employee might have."
But, There's Even More To This In Costa Mesa Than Many Citizens are Aware of...
Our view: Costa Mesa should follow the Newport Beach model and roll it's two other government bodies into the regular City government and have our five City Council members run everything as the City Council members in Newport do. This would provide economy of scale and avoid duplicate expenses.
VERBOSE VERSION: Jim Righeimer,one of the two good-for-Costa Mesa City Council candidates this year (the other good-for-Costa Mesa City Council candidate is Wendy Leece), has a nice letter in the Daily Pilot today that you can read at the above link.
In essence, what Righeimer correctly points out is the fact that the public can be fooled if only the City employee salaries are made public as some cities, including Costa Mesa, are now saying they'll do.
Righeimer writes: "In addition to salary, you need overtime, vacation pay, sick pay, certificate pay, health benefits taken in cash, miscellaneous pay, the portion of pension contribution that the city pays, and the employees' portion of pension contributions that is also paid for by the city. You might be surprised to see how many different forms of compensation a city employee might have."
But, There's Even More To This In Costa Mesa Than Many Citizens are Aware of...
What about the Costa Mesa Consolidated Water District and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District? Hmmmmm?
What many citizens of Costa Mesa aren't fully aware of is the fact that, unlike many cities, Costa Mesa has split off its water supply and trash/sewer functions to two separate special districts that each have five elected board members, large support staffs and their own facilities, vehicles, etc. that are paid for by citizens.
Some citizens believe that Costa Mesa's water supply and trash functions should be rolled into Costa Mesa's city government (as they are with many other cities including Newport Beach) to avoid duplication and save money for citizens.
Take the Costa Mesa Sanitary District (San District), for example. A couple of years ago it bought its own building on W. 19th Street across from the DMV.
The five San District board members (equivalent to our five City Council members) meet on the fourth Thursday of every month to discuss business.
The public can attend the San District meetings, but when the CM PRESS has attended, we've usually been the only public there. Which is probably a good thing, because the room where they meet is tiny and is mostly filled by the board members and staff.
In other words, if we hadn't just told you that these meetings are public and if you had shown up at the San District building to attend a meeting, you might have looked at the tiny meeting room and felt like the meetings really weren't public even though you're paying the salaries and for the building, etc.
The five San District board members get paid $221.00 per meeting. You may say that doesn't sound too bad. After all, they only have one regular meeting a month.
Not so fast! According to our source, the San District also has up to eleven other meetings a month and some of those are reportedly just a few minutes long. And, yup, the members each get paid $221.00 for each of those meeting also.
So, (counting toes now and making some reasonable assumptions), twelve meetings at $221.00 each equals $2,652.00 per member per month times 5 members equals $13,260.00 per month just in salaries and just to the board members. And, this doesn't include various other things such as health benefits, etc.
We'd like to see the Costa Mesa Consolidated Water District and also the Costa Mesa Sanitary District publish all their salaries, benefits, etc. We'll bet, as Jim Righeimer suggested relative to City salaries, benefits, etc. that you'll be surprised. And, not in a good way.
We'll try to get further confirmation of the above this week, and also more information from the Water District.
Jim Righeimer is to be applauded for writing his letter. This is the kind of person we need on the Costa Mesa City Council.
Costa Mesa is certainly not as bad as Bell, but the CM PRESS has long believed that a lot of our tax money is being wasted. We've reported on it over the years, but most people are just too busy with their daily lives to get involved and press for fiscal responsibility.
What many citizens of Costa Mesa aren't fully aware of is the fact that, unlike many cities, Costa Mesa has split off its water supply and trash/sewer functions to two separate special districts that each have five elected board members, large support staffs and their own facilities, vehicles, etc. that are paid for by citizens.
Some citizens believe that Costa Mesa's water supply and trash functions should be rolled into Costa Mesa's city government (as they are with many other cities including Newport Beach) to avoid duplication and save money for citizens.
Take the Costa Mesa Sanitary District (San District), for example. A couple of years ago it bought its own building on W. 19th Street across from the DMV.
The five San District board members (equivalent to our five City Council members) meet on the fourth Thursday of every month to discuss business.
The public can attend the San District meetings, but when the CM PRESS has attended, we've usually been the only public there. Which is probably a good thing, because the room where they meet is tiny and is mostly filled by the board members and staff.
In other words, if we hadn't just told you that these meetings are public and if you had shown up at the San District building to attend a meeting, you might have looked at the tiny meeting room and felt like the meetings really weren't public even though you're paying the salaries and for the building, etc.
The five San District board members get paid $221.00 per meeting. You may say that doesn't sound too bad. After all, they only have one regular meeting a month.
Not so fast! According to our source, the San District also has up to eleven other meetings a month and some of those are reportedly just a few minutes long. And, yup, the members each get paid $221.00 for each of those meeting also.
So, (counting toes now and making some reasonable assumptions), twelve meetings at $221.00 each equals $2,652.00 per member per month times 5 members equals $13,260.00 per month just in salaries and just to the board members. And, this doesn't include various other things such as health benefits, etc.
We'd like to see the Costa Mesa Consolidated Water District and also the Costa Mesa Sanitary District publish all their salaries, benefits, etc. We'll bet, as Jim Righeimer suggested relative to City salaries, benefits, etc. that you'll be surprised. And, not in a good way.
We'll try to get further confirmation of the above this week, and also more information from the Water District.
Jim Righeimer is to be applauded for writing his letter. This is the kind of person we need on the Costa Mesa City Council.
Costa Mesa is certainly not as bad as Bell, but the CM PRESS has long believed that a lot of our tax money is being wasted. We've reported on it over the years, but most people are just too busy with their daily lives to get involved and press for fiscal responsibility.
Hopefully, Mr. Righeimer will be talking out more about this as the campaign for City Council unfolds.
It's OUR damn money, and it's OUR damn City. We have a right to know what's going on and we have a right to demand that things be run right and in a fiscally responsible manner.
Oh, one last thing. When you see Costa Mesa's City budget each year, you can't directly compare it to cities such as Newport Beach, because while Newport shows its expenses for its water delivery and trash/sewer functions in its City budget (since those functions are part of the City and are controlled by the City Council), Costa Mesa does not.
The result of this is that the cost of running Costa Mesa appears on the City budget lower than it actually is. To get the true cost of running Costa Mesa, you have to add in the San District and Water District's budgets.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them. If you spot any errors in the above, let us know and we'll correct as necessary.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them. If you spot any errors in the above, let us know and we'll correct as necessary.
One error: Water District collects NO tax money. It is independent special district and is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year. Income is from sales of water. Imagine if City ran this: deferred replacement of pipes to overpay public safety officials is a very real event in some OC cities.
ReplyDelete"Anoymous", err Jim Fisler, you are wrong. Public would save millions if consollidated the three. Why do water directors get their health care paid for? Between stipend and benefits public pays nearly $200k a year just in pay to five elected water directors. Their pension costs are skyrocketing but the directors will never address it because two of them are pension recipients. Oh yeah, water just jacked our rates up. There is no need for the three. Let's consolidate.
ReplyDeleteMr. Millard, I was looking for info on this the other day......do you have any links for the salary / compensation for these boards? I didn't know where to look and "the google" didn't offer anything good.
ReplyDeleteDIRECTORS RECEIVE NO PENSIONS
ReplyDelete