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Six Former County Commission Chairmen
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Former Chairman Rick Price Regarding Defined Retirement Plan &
Liability Insurance
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Note that the committee is primarily made up of Senior County Employees. Why is the committee stacked with department heads with salaries in the $100,000 a year range and higher? They have the greatest to gain with a “defined benefit” plan. They will all retire soon and we will be paying them for the rest of their lives. Can they possibly be objective enough to really care about us taxpayers who would have to pay for it? Why didn’t the commissioners place some taxpayers from Delta or United Airlines on the committee? They’ve lost their “defined benefits”. They would be paying county employees for the same benefits they lost!
Mr. Burrell states that when the commissioners looked at the employee retirement program ten years ago, it was in “bad shape”. Fact: In the mid 90’s the Board of Commissioners reviewed pension options for its employees. They decided to put in place a “look-alike” variation of the 401K that was so innovative that it won a national award recognizing it’s benefits for county government employees. One obvious result of that review was that a “defined benefit” plan, like the one the current County Commission is considering, would cost the taxpayers millions more tax dollars in the long run.
Mr. Burrell stated that Fayette County has a high employee turnover rate and implied the cause was the county’s benefit package. The truth is that the turnover rate is comparable to government turnover rates throughout the region including counties / cities with “defined benefit” plans. The county has looked at this on a regular basis and there is no evidence to substantiate Burrell’s claim. In fact, some of our current staff left other places of employment with defined benefit plans to come to work for the Fayette County.
Did you know that Federal Law now (2007) requires all government entities to show employee pensions / healthcare projected liabilities on their annual financial statement? Congress is now requiring public reporting of these liabilities because they are a ticking time bomb for taxpayers. Did you know that the City of Atlanta has had to float multi million dollar long-term bonds to help pay their annual defined benefit pension / healthcare costs to retirees? Guess who’s paying for these bonds? That’s right, the taxpayer. Atlanta is not alone. This is happening across the country. That’s why the new federal reporting.
Finally, we get to the scariest part. Mr. Burrell states the county now has over $40 million dollars for it’s pension plan. That is absolutely absurd!!! The county does have a solid “fund balance” in that range, but that money is set aside for contingency funds (emergencies) and funding for present and future capital improvements. Prior commissioners, who were fiscally conservative, developed outstanding long-term planning and have left the current commissioners with the most fiscally, sound government in the region. Do they now plan to use this money for enriching employee benefits? Where would capital improvement funds come from? Will they then float bonds for capital improvement in the future? In the event of an emergency, where will they go for needed funds? What will happen to the counties superb credit rating?
It appears that four of our five commissioners have some unstated agendas that could destroy Fayette’s future. First, they fire the County Administrator. Then, they fire the County Attorney. Then, they create a “defined benefit” pension committee stacked with members who will directly and/or could indirectly benefit from such a taxpayer’s nightmare. What’s next? Will they now approve rezonings and density that will hurt us taxpayers for the benefit of a few developers? The proverbial “henhouse” is in deep trouble. It appears four foxes are now guarding it!
Jim Barronton
Harold Bost
Greg Dunn
George Patton
Rick Price
Steve Wallace
Former Fayette County Commission Chairman
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