-- The MENDOCINO COUNTRY Independent--


 seiupicket.jpg This sparsely attended SEIU picket in January of 2008 was about health premiums. They briefly sat in the CEO’s office and then politely retired. By the end of October, they agreed to accept most of the increases the county wanted, upping the biweekly premiums for plan 1 from $14 to $42, and for plan 2 from $9 to $28 per employee.
    This is a union that knows how to give in gracefully. Speaking is union rep Lynda McClure. What they got was “an explanation” of the county’s calculations. The human services director with whom they negociated this gift to the bureaucracy, Linda Clouser, is you guessed it, outa here. RJ photo



COUNTY DINGS WORKERS
 IN FINANCIAL FAILURE
by Richard Johnson 12/23/08
    In a bizarre special meeting on December 23, the discredited and disgraced 2007 BOS including the deserting Wattenburger met in closed session and voted whether to require county workers to give up three immediate days off without pay in order to save up to $650,000. '
    Finally, the decision was to close county offices for only one day on January 2, 2009 for a savings of about $200,000.
   Just after 3pm the Clowns of Establishment filed into the boardroom to report out the results of their, ahem deliberation. The outgone boad chair Jim Wattenburger stoically read a resolution declaring county offices would be closed January 2, that all bargaining units were in agreement, that all new hires would be reviewed by the CEO and the board, and that any voluntary time off would count toward credit for any future MTO, implying this would not be the last time government services are halted to save money.
   During each of the three minutes Wattenburger was speaking, fifth district supervisor Colfax was moving about and noisily rattling papers in a briefcase on the floor. Delbar was absent from the report-out. The whole fiasco and hopefully the last can be viewed at www.ukiahvalley.tv
    The County had originally wanted workers to bridge most of the $800,000 gap in the new budget approved this fall. On December 9, the board considered a number of other measures such as no longer providing free drinking water to employees, cutting supervisor travel funding, and voluntary time off. One option that was vigorously opposed by Health and Human Services director Carmel Angelo was closing the Willits Integrated Service Center. He said it would impact the most vulnerable county residents who often hitchike from Covelo and Branscomb for social services appointments.
    The Service Employees Local agreed to the MTO or mandatory time off, although representative Arnie Gassen said a more dispersed schedule would have been more equitable. He also opined that VTO or voluntary time off would suit workers better and save more money for the county.
    Why this decision had to be made by the old board, why it had to be mandatory and across the board is probably because the county is completely broke and may have to interrupt services while waiting until the state mandated emergency takes effect for counties on February 1, requiring a 10% across the board reduction in payrolls.
    This is all about Mendocino County government confronting the looming crisis with a bloated workforce with bloated salaries, especially in management.
    The financial situation of Mendocino County is as follows: Total county debt is $315 million and climbing, 85% due to pension fund liabilities for payments and health care for retired county workers. Debt service payments are now $15 million a year, 60% of property tax income.
    In the future, debt service payments will amount to $400 million.
    The County's credit rating on $94.9 million in outstanding pension obligations has been reduced to is A-, meaning the cost of borrowing more money has increased.
    The county faces a gap of $92 million between what it must pay retirees and what it can afford to pay. As a result, it is paying $13 million a year on debt service for to meet this obligation. There are no plans to fully fund this liability. å
    The County's Retirement Fund is  the worst shape of the state's 21 independent retirement funds. Other counties are in CalPERS. Pension fund has lost 30% of its value since August. Health care costs are not statutory obligations.
    The reason is during prosperous times up to this summer, the County increased staffing and granted raises, including the 42% supervisor pay raise of 2007.