Op-Ed: A Letter to the Council About Pensions

Members of the Novato City Council:

As you progress with your labor negotiations, we ask that you and the city employees take notice of last Tuesday’s election results in San Jose and San Diego.

Citizens in those towns sent a clear message. They see that pensions and compensation are unsustainable and a major reason why cities and towns are struggling to pay for basic services.  The wide margins of passage show the extent to which voters get it.

We think their message was clear and it applies to Novato as well.  If sufficient progress is not made by elected officials through the traditional channels of legislation and labor negotiations, then citizens will follow the lead of San Diego and San Jose.  We have seen that when an initiative is put in front of voters, they will overwhelmingly support pension reform.

Two years ago the labor negotiations in Novato made initial steps toward reform.  Based on assurances that further reforms would be forthcoming, many of us lent our support to Measure F, a five-year sales tax increase.

In March of this year we expressed the need for progress on the following measures in the budget plans and labor negotiations:

• Phase out the employer pick-up of the employee pension contribution
• Create a second tier pension program with reduced retirement benefits for new employees
• Establish a goal to ultimately require at least equal sharing of pension costs
• Reduce or eliminate potential abuses of pension or compensation contracts
• Bring the longevity steps in the Police MOUs into line with those of comparable cities
• Carefully assess questions of equity and fairness

We believe the time has come where we need to see significant pension reforms if Novato expects to successfully sunset Measure F and ensure a long term balanced budget.

Let us be clear. We do not support the extension of Measure F or any other tax increase. If the parties are not able to make significant progress in current labor negotiations, then we believe the citizens may pursue remedies through the initiative process.

Signed: 

Jim Henderson

Derek Knell

Jay Strauss

Mike Di Giorgio

Tom MacDonald

Susan Miller

Leslie Peterson-Schwarze

Larry Paulger

Chuck Porteous

Tom James

Jane Bennett

Susan Wernick

Jerry Peters

David Russell

Mike Arnold

Jody Morales

Catherine Bragg

Frank Bullentini

(Editor's note: The authors of this letter are business leaders, civic leaders and former or current elected officials)