Upcoming Pepper Pike City Council meetings & news items

Mailed out tonight:

Greetings.

A quick rundown:

1. This week's Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting is scheduled for its usual day (1/11/12, second Wednesday of every month) but will be starting at 8pm.  You can see the agenda here or via the attached document (a pdf).

Please note: For those who may be interested in this topic, the agenda lists "Sterling Lakes/Brainard Traffic Issue" as an item under the heading, "Discussion."

2. There is a regular City Council meeting next week on 1/18/12. No agenda yet.

3. The podcast of five new mayors on the WCPN Sound of Ideas show, including Mayor Bain, can be heard here.

4. The Chagrin Solon Sun's article on Mayor Bain can be read here.

5. Detailed property tax information for Pepper Pike property owners can be found here.

6. Vote-by-mail applications (vote by mail voting begins January 31 - hard to believe!) can be found here.

Draft 2012 Budget and Five-Year Forecast Now Online

Many thanks to the City's Finance Director, Loren Sengstock, for having the draft 2012 budget and five-year forecast posted before I asked!  AND - it's OCTOBER. See? Things can change.

Enjoy.

The Pension Pick-up Picture for Pepper Pike

I wasn't around when Pepper Pike agreed to a 2% pension pick-up arrangement with its employees rather than a 2% wage increase, but it's an item in the Finance Review Committee Report (which you can read here, see pg. 7) and was cited by a candidate for Council in a Chagrin Valley Times article last week as something that the City could have eliminated already as a benefit (the FRC report says that instead, "...the amount should be used for base wages").

At least twice in public session (4/20/11, 6/9/11), I've advocated for moving forward on this FRC recommendation regarding the penion pick-up, but I also specifically emphasized the necessity of examining the switch's financial impact on base wages, if any, as Council considered what to do and how to do it.

Now, this article from last week's Chillocothe Gazette does an excellent job exploring the good, the bad and the ugly of the pension pick-up idea. I recommend reading the entire article.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Please note, an early version of the state budget actually had the 2% pension pick up for state employees being eliminated and shifted to the state public employees.  Both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate stripped that elimination from the bill.  Why, you may ask? Well - I don't know, but I will tell you that the electeds who voted on the state's budget? They are state employees who would have been affected by that shift. 

So, one might ask, if one were an asking kind of person, if it's good enough for the local governments to eliminate the pick up, why isn't it good enough for the state?

Thoughts on 9/29/11 CVT Article, "Council balked at putting road levy on ballot"

I emailed the following to CVT editor David Lange and to our intrepid Pepper Pike reporter, Sali McSherry. I'm appreciative of their coverage of the City and its concerns and I wanted to send them my thoughts rather than just have them on this blog.

For those of you who have not read the article, you can read it here:

Chagrin Valley Times, "Council balked at putting road levy on ballot"

Dear Mr. Lange and Sali,

I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to share a few comments with you about the 9/29/11 article about the recommendations in the Pepper Pike Finance Review Committee (“FRC”) report. I provide these comments with all due respect and consider this communication to be public, should you have any interest in publishing it in some way (as an LTE perhaps). I am not suggesting that you do that, it's entirely up to you of course. I will, however, be sharing these thoughts on my city council blog.  I am fully aware of the frustration many residents have expressed with the state of the City and Council's role in that - I often share or even initiate that frustration.  So I wanted to highlight a few other pieces of contextual information that I believe further explain how situations have unfolded.

My thoughts:

Tomorrow Night: Finance Oversight Committee Quarterly Meeting

Last year, Mayor Akers agreed to create a Finance Oversight Subcommittee. Though we often refer to it as a committee, it's a subcommittee of the Finance Committee, which is chaired this year by Council Member Rick Taft.  Council member Gail Mayland chaired it and Scott Newell and I were the other two council members on the committee. 

As noted within the last few months, since Council received recommendations from the Finance Review Committee, it was the Oversight Committee that first discussed the need to examine and possibly modify policies related to sick days and sick pay, vacation, longevity, part-time versus full-time employment and pension pick-up. 

Mayor Akers had envisioned that the council members on this committee would rotate and so now it's comprised of Paulette Morganstern (Chair), Cleve Svetlik and Rick Taft. The resident members are Don Jacobson, Kevin McGinty, Dave Shinebart and Michael Shore. The frequency of the committee's meetings has been changed to quarterly (from monthly) and the second quarter's meeting is tomorrow evening, July 19, at 7:00pm in City Hall. It is open to the public, as always. 

If you want to understand the City's budget - and its budget's strengths and weaknesses, this committee is an excellent place to start.

Meeting & Event Information of Interest to Pepper Pike Residents

I sent this information out via email just a bit ago.  If you'd like to be added to the distribution list, let me know.  Also, I forgot to include Monday, August 1 which is the monthly Planning & Zoning meeting.  It starts at 7:30pm and like all the other meetings, takes place in City Hall and is open to the public.

Good evening and I will be succint (!):

1. TONIGHT: The monthly Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting is this evening at 7:30pm in the City Hall.  Always open to the public, it is also always on the second Wednesday of the month, same time, same place.  You can read the agenda here or see the attachment.  You can see that the Woodmere dispatch agreement and the rubbish fee will be discussed, in addition to several other items.

2. NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT (7/20): The monthly Council meeting will be the evening of Wednesday, July 20 at 8pm in the City Hall.  Always open to the public, it is also always on the third Wednesday of the month, same time, same place.  The agenda should be up by the beginning of next week.

3. Monday, August 1, evening: The Pepper Pike Community Band will play its second free concert, rain (in the Fire Station) or shine (in the Pepper Pike Park). I've attended the two concerts already held this year and they were lovely. They begin at 7:30pm.

4. September 15th (a Thursday): The Pepper Pike Civic League will hold its annual Candidates + Issues Meeting at the Brady Middle School. These events usually start at 7pm and will feature the candidates running for Pepper Pike Mayor and Pepper Pike City Council, among other possible elected positions.

5. If you've not had a chance to view the Feagler & Friends edition from last week regarding the merger study and regionalism, you can view it here.

6. I keep a blog about City Council, the City and other topics of interest to those who follow government, politics and citizen engagement.  It's called In The Arena, you can see it here, and you can subscribe to it via an RSS feed or you can visit it as you please. 

Thank you as always for your time and for choosing to be in Pepper Pike.  I look forward to hearing your questions, concerns and comments as always.

Read, Offer Feedback on Financial Review Committee Report

I sent out the following email this morning. Please share the Financial Review Committee's report with other Pepper Pike residents   The Committee's report includes many recommendations, including one for a road levy of 2.6 mills. One ordinance, among the many that will be introduced at tomorrow evening's Council meeting in response to the Committee's report, would move the City toward placing a property tax levy on the August ballot.  Please consider providing feedback to the Mayor and Council through phone calls, emails, regular mail or face to face visits in regard to this recommendation as well as any other questions, comments or concerns you may have.

Good morning,

Three quick notes:

1. As you may recall, the mayor convened a committee of seven citizens last fall, the Financial Review Committee.  Their final report was given to Council last Wednesday. It is now available online.  You can read it here or open the corresponding attachment in this email [no attachment to this post though].  If you have trouble opening the document, please contact the Clerk of Council, Sheila O'Connor, at 216-896-6128.

2. The monthly City Council meeting will occur tomorrow, Wednesday, April 20 at 8pm in City Hall. It is, as always, open to the public.  You can see the agenda here, but I've also attached it [again, not attached to this post]. It is in a pdf format.  If you are unable to open it, please contact Sheila for that as well.

3. The Pepper Pike Civic League's Town Hall Meeting is Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at Brady Middle School, 7:00-8:30 PM. The focus is on getting to know our new Cuyahoga County Council.  The featured speaker will be Jack Schron, our 6th District Representative. You can see the flyer for more information here.

Thank you as always for letting me serve and for living in Pepper Pike.

Best,
Jill

Learning from other's mistakes

The salient statements are so often found in the last words of even the longest pieces.  From today's New York Times Magazine article, "Broke Town, USA":

Until voters can agree on what government services they want and will pay for, it is possible that bondholders will bank the profits while taxpayers, employees and citizens share the losses.

It is this issue of voters agreeing on what government services they want and will pay for that most resonates for me, and why, for more than a year, I've wanted a resident survey to assist us in aligning our revenues with our expenditures.

Tom Suddes on the SB5 endgame's effect on Ohio's local government funding

From today's Plain Dealer:

...if (and it's a big if) Senate Bill 5 does slow the growth in cities', counties', libraries' and school boards' personnel spending, that would give Kasich's administration and the Republican-run General Assembly an opening to prune state aid to local governments. [emphasis added]

You must read Tom's entire column for the complete argument he makes, but this is not news and anyone who suggests that it is, hasn't been paying attention.

What's this mean to someone like a local city mayor or council member?

It means that

1) the local government dollars the political subdivisions receive are, as we've been saying, endangered but, in Suddes' argument, they are being justified as endangered by the speculation that the political subdivisions can make up the loss for the local government fund money by cutting the personnel-related items they'd be allowed to cut - without any bargaining be allowed anymore - courtesy of SB5)

and

2) the estate tax dollars likewise remain endangered - although I checked the status of HB 3 yesterday and it appears that it's somewhat stalled for now - and a similar argument might be made to justify the loss of those dollars (because with SB5, local governments can make up the loss by cutting personnel-related items that SB5 would let them cut without having to go to bargaining).

Politifact Declares Ohio State Rep's Anti-Estate Tax Assertion "Pants on Fire" Lie

From today's Plain Dealer, "Did Wendy's founder Dave Thomas really flee Ohio's estate tax on his death bed?" as asserted by Ohio House Representative Jay Hottinger (R, 71st District), leader of the drive to repeal the tax from the House side:

Hottinger’s statement isn’t just inaccurate, it’s also ridiculous. On the Truth-O-Meter, it’s worthy of flame broiling. That’s why we rate it Pants On Fire. 

Please read the entire piece for the full context and the research gathered by the PD's Politifact folks.

Ohio Chambers of Commerce Release Redesigning Ohio Report on State Government (WCPN broadcasts on it tomorrow)

Just as scrutiny of public employees and their wages and benefits hits a fever pitch and Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich is about to take office, several chambers of commerce have released their report on how state government should be redesigned. The stated goal is to make state government, "become more flexible, adaptable and innovative -- searching constantly for new ways to improve services and heighten productivity."  

Redesigning Ohio - Executive Summary

Redesigning Ohio - Full Report

Redesigning Ohio - Press Release

Sections 6 (Civil Service), 7 (Pension Benefits), 8 (Health Care) and 10 (Local Government) in the executive summary are worth noting (I've not read the full report or press releases yet but you can read the Crain's Cleveland Business article about it, out today, here).

Section 10 gives a hint at where the Kasich administration and/or the Ohio General Assembly will go with the Local Government Fund:

Strategically redirect the state’s Local Government Fund toward buying better results by earmarking 15 percent of the fund in FY 2012 and 20 percent of the fund in FY2013 for local government reform demonstration projects.

As a reminder, Pepper Pike has received about $125,000 from this fund each year.  I'm not of the total amount of the fund available for statewide distribution but this section's recommendation is to reduce that by 15% and then 20% and redistribute it for "local government reform demonstration projects."

I've not looked but the full report may have examples of what is meant by "local government reform demonstration projects" - I'm assuming joint districts and other forms of regionalism, perhaps technology-oriented as well.

Read more and listen to the WCPN/Ideastream Sound of Ideas show on this topic tomorrow, from 9-10am here.

TOMORROW (1/5), 10-11AM, WCPN: State Budgets and Public Employees

The Diane Rehm show's first hour tomorrow is on state budgets and public employees (I blogged about the spate of articles here and here just in the last week and I know that it's a hot topic around Pepper Pike given the mayor's financial review committee's work).

Fiscal problems in many states are prompting new scrutiny of public employee salaries, pensions and benefits: What shrinking state revenues could mean for the bargaining power of public employees.

Guests

Lee Saunders

Secretary-Treasurer, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees,

It looks like they're still adding guests and she usually does have anywhere from two to four or more contributors during any one hour.  I've called in before, over the years, and gotten on. So if you've got a question or comment, consider contacting the show by email, phone or Twitter.  Here's how:

Join the show:

• 1-800-433-8850
• drshow@wamu.org
• Find us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter

To listen live over your radio, go to WCPN, 90.3 FM.  To listen live on your computer, go to either wcpn.org and click on the "listen live" buttons at the top of the page, or go to drshow.org and do the same (you will see buttons that say "listen" and/or "listen to wamu.org" - that's the station over which her show is broadcast; you can also go directly to wamu.org and click on "listen live"). 

If you miss the show when it airs, you can listen later on the computer or via podcast that you can download and listen to on your iPod etc.

PD: "GOP in Ohio House Wants To Kill Estate Tax"

In pertinent part from the article (you can read it here), first, how much we're talking about statewide (remember, we're being told that the state deficit is $8-11 billion):

Batchelder, of Medina, said a bill to repeal the estate tax -- a concept Kasich supports -- along with several other bills to help create jobs will be introduced in the next couple of weeks.

An advocate for Ohio cities, however, said abolishing the estate tax would hurt local governments. The tax is levied on the net value of an estate before its assets are transferred to anyone else. It generated nearly $334 million in fiscal 2009, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation. About $270 million of that went to municipalities.

"If the state chooses to repeal that, what we would like to see is some source of revenue that would make up for that money," Ohio Municipal League Deputy Director John Mahoney said. "To just do away with it and pull the rug out from underneath us is unfair."

What's next?

As for the estate tax, Batchelder said there are options.

The legislature could abolish the tax, municipalities could be given the right to decide whether the tax applies within their borders, or elimination of the tax could be put before voters. Batchelder said he prefers to abolish the tax.

Maggie Ostrowski, spokeswoman for Senate President Tom Niehaus, a Republican from New Richmond, said a number of senators support the estate tax repeal and Niehaus will discuss the issue with Batchelder.

Again, I say, our five-year budget projections must zero-out the estate tax revenue line and reduce the local government fund contribution or we are kidding ourselves.  We should also give extremely serious consideration to funding the reserve fund we've created, now, not later, even if it's with a token amount.  It is withdrawable if need be.

Independent Review of County Operations (aka "Integrity Audit") Now Online

You can read it here.

The text of a press release regarding the report is after the jump.  I haven't read it yet, but I have to believe that in such a report, there will be ideas that that every municipality should consider and possibly heed.

Another Article on How Decision-Makers Use Revenue Troubles to Cover Not Making Tough Choices in Past

This time, from Politico's "Pols turn on labor unions."  And this time, what I consider to be the most clear pronouncement of the truth:

The new focus on public workers is the product of a perfect storm of anti-labor factors.

First are the very real financial obligations imposed by their salaries, health benefits and—especially—their traditional, defined-benefit pension plans, which have been sweetened over the years in many states by legislators eager for the support of politically-powerful unions. This is particularly true in the northern and western states that allow public workers to organize. A recent study from the Pew Center on the States found that states are short $1 trillion toward the $3.35 trillion in pension, health care and other retirement benefits states have promised their current and retired workers, the product of a combination of political decisions and the recent recession.

But the immediate cause of the new spotlight on public sector unions is the collapse in tax revenues that came with the 2008 Wall Street crash, something that union leaders bitterly note is not their fault. [emphasis added]

Ire Directed at Public Employees, But Electeds Make The Decisions, Residents Pay For & Use Services

These kinds of articles are not new:

Toll Workers Are Overpaid (a blog post referencing the Toledo Blade article, "Turnpike employees agree to 3-year pact freezing pay, benefits")

Meet the Hundreds of NYC Sanitation Workers Who Earn Over $100,000 (Business Insider)

Public Workers Facing Outrage as Budget Crises Grow (New York Times)

But only the New York Times piece mentions the role the decision-makers have in the issue:

In California, New York, Michigan and New Jersey, states where public unions wield much power and the culture historically tends to be pro-labor, even longtime liberal political leaders have demanded concessions — wage freezes, benefit cuts and tougher work rules.

It is an angry conversation. Union chiefs, who sometimes persuaded members to take pension sweeteners in lieu of raises, are loath to surrender ground. Taxpayers are split between those who want cuts and those who hope that rising tax receipts might bring easier choices.

And a growing cadre of political leaders and municipal finance experts argue that much of the edifice of municipal and state finance is jury-rigged and, without new revenue, perhaps unsustainable. Too many political leaders, they argue, acted too irresponsibly, failing to either raise taxes or cut spending.

Sound familiar?

Today's News Articles About Pepper Pike

From Chagrin Solon Sun, "Pepper Pike may reduce pay cut percentage for some employees"

The Chagrin Valley Times today carries a commentary on Mayor Akers and his announcement about not running for re-election in 2011 for a sixth four-year term.  It also has two brief items, as part of a column, regarding two other council members (nice mentions, nice!).  But I don't think - though you can never be 100% sure - that those two will be online.  I've not yet received my CVT but will scan and pass along links and the scans promptly.

And a bonus editorial: Orange Village makes the Plain Dealer editorial page.

In The Arena, Untabbed*: 12/15/10

1. Voters in Beachwood, Pepper Pike's neighbor to the west, approved an increase in their income tax rate, from 1.5% to 2.0%, in November's election.   Residents who work outside Beachwood receive a complete credit on the income tax they pay to those locales. Edited in: Residents who work and live in Beachwood will see their income tax increase to .5%.  That means that the income tax increase will only be paid by people who work in Beachwood, but do not live in Beachwood, as well as those who live and work in Beachwood, but not those who live in Beachwood but work outside Beachwood.

2. In Arizona, "Tea Party Activists In Arizona Protest Changes In Trash Collection, New Recycling Program."  Russell, Ohio is facing a similar lawsuit. The argument?

[Russell resident David] Golden’s complaint claims the bidding process was unfair and will harm residents by depriving them of the “right to contract with whomever” they choose for trash hauling services.

3. An Ohio State Senator, Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster), has been trying to get our state legislators to cut their salaries since the beginning of 2010, in recognition of the hard times Ohioans are having, even though the savings is only in the hundreds of thousands. Many of his colleagues? Not interested.  Their base pay remains approximately $60,600.

4. I don't think anyone actually thinks I'm kidding, because I'm not. But here's more information about running for and winning elected office in the 21st Century: How Calgary's Mayor Used Social Media to Get Elected.  I'm going to have to start charging for advice on how to run and win office soon, especially if this City Council thing doesn't work out.

NYT, Front Page/Above Fold: "Surburb Caught in Fiscal Crisis Despite Wealth"

No, this New York Times article is not about Pepper Pike. And be sure that you read the entire - I mean do not only browse - article.  Are we ahead of the curve?

An excerpt:

Under pressure from [a watchdog] authority, [Tea Party/Republican County Executive] Mr. Mangano’s Democratic predecessor, Thomas R. Suozzi, raised property taxes, shrank the county work force and reduced the county’s reliance on borrowing to pay for operating costs.

But as the economy faltered in 2007, Mr. Suozzi, eyeing statewide office, began relying heavily on one-shot revenue generators.

He won short-term concessions from unions, like deferred salary increases, by extending a no-layoff guarantee through 2011. He resorted to borrowing to pay one of the county’s always onerous bills: the refunds given to residents who appeal their property tax assessments. And last year, up for re-election, he sidestepped a property tax increase by imposing a 2.5 percent tax on home heating bills.

That handed Mr. Mangano a campaign issue, which he rode into office. If he had any mandate, it was to scrap the heating bill tax and, as he put it, restore confidence in county government.

As things turned out, though, “Those two promises turned out to be at odds,” said Lawrence Levy, an expert on suburban politics at Hofstra University.

Mr. Mangano got rid of the energy tax. But he never came up with offsetting spending cuts. That sets him apart from Republicans elected in New Jersey and in Westchester County last year, who have warred with unions and made painful cuts in services.

Seriously - read the whole thing.

Estate tax likely to remain source of revenue for at least near future

From the Columbus Dispatch:

A group seeking to repeal Ohio's estate tax says it will fail to meet the deadline for a second year to file enough signatures to have the legislature consider the plan, but it isn't discouraged....

That's because the group hopes the incoming Republican majority in the Ohio House and Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich will take action on their own.

...If they don't, the group could file signatures by the end of 2011 for action in 2012.

I infer from this that the estate tax - as a source of revenue to local governments such as Pepper Pike -  will continue to be levied at least through the end of 2012, unless the Republican majority Ohio House and Ohio Senate decide to take legislative action and eliminate it.

What do you want our newly elected state representative, Marliene Anielski (R, Walton Hills) to do?

Hattip to Plunderbund.