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City of Guelph pension challenge?

Posted by Phil Andrews

We're exploring a media release issued surrounding pension issues  purportedly faced by the City of Guelph. It was sent out by an activist group that is seeking public pension reform.

I have kept the element in the release as we received them - i.e. - all-caps and bolded bits. Here's the release:

 

Guelph's PENSION PICKLE : Why Guelph Taxpayers can expect double-digit tax increases.

New stats show a hidden $ 41.7 million tax bill

GUELPH: The group Fair Pensions For All has dropped a bombshell on City Council. FPFA is hard at work at what they expect to be the single largest challenge to City Council in the coming years - City employee pensions.

While it’s not the first time they have brought the issue front and centre, FPFA is ringing the alarm bells over the latest findings involving the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement fund (OMERS). The pension fund is underfunded by billions, and Guelph taxpayers will be expected to pick up their share of the shortfall.

FPFA is a pension reform advocacy group that sees its job as educating Council and the Mayor on the urgency of the pension issue. Bill Tufts, founder of FPFA, says he has seen his share of blank faces.

“We have spoken to Councilors and Mayors throughout the province, and while they are starting to come around, clearly they are in the dark on the gravity of the crisis,“ he says. “The situation is staggering. Last year, despite $2.7 billion in contributions, the shortfall increased to $7.3 billion – up from only $4.5 billion the year before.”

Each city is responsible for pickling up their share of the pension shortfall. With 263,000 current municipal employees in the plan, this works out to a shortfall of $27,750 for each employee. The City of Guelph had 1,506 employees at the end of 2011. This makes Guelph's share of the shortfall $41.7 million rising to $51.5 million by year end.

Recently the Province launched a full review of the OMERS pension system in recognition of the burgeoning pension deficit. All municipalities were asked for input and to exchange dialogue. According to OMERS, nobody from Guelph has engaged them on the issue.

“We have sent emails to several members of council, including the Mayor. The prevailing opinion is that it’s a provincial problem. That is simply naïve and irresponsible.“ said Tufts. "The deficit will prove unsustainable, and is on track to being the big issue for our next civic election."

One of the challenges, as Tufts points out, is that City Councilors themselves are entitled to an OMERS pension, although not all city's participate. " it is estimated the top 10 paid employees of City Hall could be entitled to lifetime pension benefits of over 40.1 million dollars.“ Tufts said. “Does that seem reasonable in this economy?” 

Bill Tufts, Founder of Fair Pensions For All and co-author of Pension Ponzi (Wiley & Sons) has studied other cities as well.

“Saint John, NB, is actually considering bankruptcy, Regina has a major problem, and Montreal is in trouble too,” he points out.

Tufts is hoping that individual conversations with Councilors will bring attention to the problem. “It’s not too late to fix things. It will take layoffs, and it will take pay cuts, but most of all, it will take the will of a concerned Council to fix the problem,“ he said.

Yes, City, watering restrictions apply to you

A reader this morning emailed us this photo of the sprinklers at McCrae House, as she put it, "shooting lovely water full bore!"

I went over and had a look and indeed the grass at Col. John's birthplace is some of the greenest I've seen in weeks.

I spoke to a city worker there, who suggested they are allowed to use the sprinklers between 7 and 9 a.m. to water the flower gardens. But when I showed him this photo -- which clearly shows sprinklers aimed away from the flowers -- he said to call his supervisor.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

Underwater bridge comes above ground

How dry is it out there?

So dry a bridge normally well submerged below Guelph Lake is now nearly a foot above the water line. And that's no joke.

I went out this morning to have a look at the bridge -- which used to connect Conservation Road to Jones Baseline, before the whole valley was flooded in the early '70s to create the lake -- and found it acting as a fairly popular fishing platform.

One angler drowning worms with his sons told me he usually fishes from the bridge, but accesses it wearing his hip-waders and stands in water up to his waist.

No need for waders today.

More Guelph street signs in local ditches

My colleague Rachel Psutka had a story in the paper today about a west-end resident finding approximately one dozen Guelph street signs -- including road name signs and stop signs -- in a ditch along Fife Road.

That prompted a reader to email to let us know the west-end does not have a monopoly on signs in ditches, but that there were some along Victoria Road just before the Speed River bridge.

I was heading out that way so I stopped and had a look. Unlike the signs in Rachel's story, which had the top portions of their poles cut, these appeared to still be attached to the full posts. They also did not appear to have been transferred from elsewhere, as I believe the two signs I came across -- this speed limit sign and one advising of the beginning of a bicycle lane -- previously stood in that section of Victoria Road.

My guess is someone either pulled them out of the ground and dumped them, or they were taken out by a snowplow or some other large vehicle and just haven't been re-erected.

Real budget fight starts next Monday

There were no fireworks during tonight's council budget workshop, but it might be a different picture next Monday.

While staff are recommending council set a tax increase target of 3 per cent, no decision was made tonight. Rather, staff will formally seek such direction after presenting a staff report to council next Monday night.

Some councillors have already hinted what they will bring to the table.

Not surprisingly, Maggie Laidlaw thinks the starting point should be about 8.5 per cent and go down from there, while Cam Guthrie wanted to know why staff couldn't recommend something lower than 3 per cent.

We'll have the story in tomorrow's paper.

Budget talks get underway tonight

It could be an interesting council session this evening for anyone who wants to escape the heat for the air conditioning at City Hall.

New treasurer Al Horsman is to lead a council budget workshop, outlining some of the challenges of the coming year and attempting to get a sense of the type of tax increa with which councillors would be comfortable next year.

It could get sticky.

Some councillors have already said the 3 per cent suggested by staff sounds like a fair number, but at least one has suggested an increase somewhere south of that should be the goal.

The workshop gets underway at 6 p.m.

What will we talk about?

I will be joining Jan Hall and her regular crew next Monday morning for another installment of Media at the Mic.

I'm sure we'll find some things to talk about.

Listen in Monday morning, from 8 to 9 a.m., on CFRU 93.3fm and let me know your thoughts afterward.

Kovach weighs in on integrity commissioner

I left a message for Coun. Gloria Kovach Wednesday seeking comment on the cost of the integrity commissioner's report, as she was one of two councillors who voted against ordering a review and was openly critical of Robert Swayze's methodology.

Kovach called back after I'd left for the day, but I thought it worth sharing her views on the matter. Here is a condensed version of her voicemail:

"It's absolutely ridiculous. Council should be embarrassed by the cost ... It was used, I believe, for personal gain to limit some councillors from fully representing their constituents, those who don't toe the line with the majority group, and now to see the cost is astronomical.

"I truly think the citizens of this city should be outraged by the cost and even the report itself was so slanted. It wasn't inclusive. It was a set-up

"I think (the public) should be outraged and members of council who voted for it should be held accountable."

 

Integrity commissioner's bill comes in

Integrity commissioner Robert Swayze has submitted his bill for reviewing a Guelph Mercury article earlier this year.

The total is $10,462.50, plus HST. At Swayze's hourly rate of $225 that represents 46.5 hours of work.

Coun. Cam Guthrie was so blown away by the total he has suggested the 10 councillors who voted to have the review done should split the costs, and has already pledged to "give back $1,000 out of my pocket to the taxpayers" before the end of this term.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

Guelph's Ti-Cats hopes fizzle

A proposal which could have seen the Hamilton Tiger-Cats playing their home games in Guelph next season has not got off the ground.

We recently reported officials with the University of Guelph were interested in speaking to the team, which is looking for somewhere to play while Ivor Wynne Stadium gets replaced with a new facility in advance of the 2015 Pan-Am Games.

But a staff report posted this week on Ian Findlay's blog makes it clear that is not going to happen, as it would cost $1.5 to $2 million to accomodate the team's requirements at Alumni Stadium.