(May 6, 2008, 3:40 p.m.) -- LBReport.com has separately provided our readers with extended video coverage of yesterday afternoon's (May 5) press event when LB Mayor Bob Foster made the best arguments possible in favor of a proposed half-decade contract with the public employee union (IAM) to which a 2002 Council gave a costly pension spike.
In case you missed it, the Councilmembers who'll actually be voting on the proposed deal weren't present at yesterday's press event. Mayor Foster took the political heat for them, drawing fire on himself, giving Council incumbents political cover...he thinks.
With all due respect, not even Mayor Foster will be able to unstick the velcro that will attach to Councilmembers who vote to approve the profligate proposed pension-spiked IAM non-public-safety employee contract.
We urge LB's 2008 City Council to refer this taxpayer-gouging measure back to city management with instructions to negotiate a wage freeze and salary give-backs for taxpayers.
If that doesn't have a majority, we urge a separate substitute motion to -- at minimum -- reduce the proposed contract term to 12-18 months.
Indenturing taxpayers for half a decade with no specifics in place to pay the price -- at a time when revenue is declining -- is lunacy.
Yesterday, Mayor Foster pretended not to notice that raising city employees' salaries increases their already-spiked pensions by boosting the base salary on which their spiked-pensions are calculated. Of course he knows that it does...and trying to divert attention by talking about PARS vs. PERS won't fool taxpayers.
We reject the premise that median is an entitlement. Outside City Hall, many people consider themselves lucky to have a job even without a raise. The lavish proposed city employee raises are a de facto pension boosting machine...and Mayor Foster and the Council DO have control over those raises.
Mayor Foster says he believes City Hall can be leaner. If so, city officials need to show it first, before saddling taxpayers to a half-decade obligation without a plan in place to pay for it.
No responsible person would incur a multi-million dollar obligation based on someone's personal assurances or sincere beliefs. The word of an elected official -- no matter how honestly or sincerely stated -- is temporary without legal obligation. In contrast, taxpayers incur a binding legal commitment to pay after the former politicians and their beliefs are gone, regardless of what their words and beliefs turn out to be worth.
Contracts aren't about someone's beliefs; they're business. When we asked about specifics in savings, neither the Mayor nor the management offered them.
If it's so easy getting millions of dollars leaner, why haven't management and the Council done so already?
We urge a substitute motion(s) to send the contract back with instructions to management to negotiate a salary freeze with give backs for taxpayers...and to offer a term of 12 to 18 months max. At that point, LB taxpayers may have a better idea of whether the leaner city government of Mayor Foster's dreams comes to pass, or is just another failed City Hall diet. Remember: City Hall was supposed to have ended its "structural deficit"...and now it's back on the fat again.
We do think that the Council can fairly approve the proposed Firefighters' agreement. Yes, it's costly. Yes, we apply a double-standard to public safety workers. Yes, we think it's fair to treat people differently who risk their lives daily to save the lives and property of people they don't know.
This is the time for thoughtful Councilmembers to show they represent taxpayers. Make the motions. Force the recorded votes. Approve the Firefighters contract...then take a public vote on sending the pension-spiked IAM proposed deal back.
Former Councilman Frank Colonna and former City Auditor Gary Burroughs weren't alone in backing the 2002 pension spiked agreement. Maybe they thought the public would forget. As they discovered, the 2006 election gave taxpayers an opportunity to remember.
Tonight's voted action is more than an ordinary vote. Councilmembers will be writing future history tonight...their own.
