Susan Stanton, City Manager of Greenfield, California

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And what better opportunity, now that we talked about the constant crime in Lake Worth that seems to be escalating, than to mention our former city manager of Lake Worth, Susan Stanton.

Now the city manager of Greenfield, California,  Susan Stanton is conducting a national search for its very own police chief. As mentioned in a blog last year, Greenfield and Soledad California have been sharing one police chief since March 2012. She has held steadfast in her claim that Greenfield needed its own police chief.

According to Greenfield's police chief, "Burglaries in Greenfield are down 47 percent, armed robberies by 14 percent and neither city has had a homicide in 10 months, an accomplishment considering the violence flare-ups troubling much of the rest of the county. Assaults are down and we've saved some money, too."  click here.

At the time of her hire, the mayor of Greenfield, California said, "Stanton rose to the top of Greenfield’s applicant pool because of her skills in labor negotiations and her success in attracting new cultural centers to Largo. Communities across the nation are looking to raise revenues, and she did those things. Hiring her is a bold move, but it goes back to her experience and qualifications.”

Not only is crime down, but Stanton negotiated police salaries as she did when she was  city manager of Lake Worth. Stanton said her city's police department employees agreed to a contract with a 1 percent pay increase, compared to a nearly 12 percent increase under Soledad's new contracts. Please note that the PBSO got another raise this year. If any negotiations were taking place, we were not informed about them.

Lake Worth wants to sell off assets to afford Union costs

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24 City of Lake Worth properties are up for sale worth approximately $544,000 and the reason why we want to sell them off is to be able to afford pension costs that are expected to rise in the 2013/2014 budget, so said the Mayor.

Some of those City-owned lots and homes that could be offered for sale:

• 711 N. L St, a lot.
• 416 Third Ave. S., a lot
• 313 N. M St. a lot
• 1203 18th Ave. N, adjacent lots
• 1506 S. J St., a lot
• 624 Highland Ave., a lot
• 1756 14th Ave. S., a lot
• 1101 S. E. St., a lot
• 626 Latona Ave., a lot
• 628 N. K St., a lot
• 629 S. H St., a lot
• 605 Fifth Ave. N., a house
• 902 N. C St., a house
• 304 S. F St., a lot

We have all these ambitious goals--developing the Park of Commerce, as well as developing a robust housing/property rehabilitation program for Lake Worth and the overall improvement of our quality of life.

The main source of our consternation, that no one really wants to address, is the unions.  I'm not sure that we have a top union professional with the expertise and mechanics to bargain with the Unions that are holding our city, as well as many others, hostage. We need to hire a top union negotiator. With the rising cost of healthcare and all employee pension costs, the city's mission of creating a viable and healthy community is impossible unless Unions stop taking the biggest piece of the pie.

In 2013/2014 it was estimated that police costs would rise to $15,551,758 and fire protection to 2,781,542 or $18.3 million out of a total budget of $29.3 million.  The estimated increased  costs for policing would be $770 thousand over this year in a city where property values are expected to go down once again. We can't continue to operate this way. Selling off our assets is not the solution.

The best Christmas present that the City of Lake Worth needs to give its citizens

The best Christmas present that Lake Worth could give to its citizens is to hire a Union negotiator. This is the most important position that should be filled for the over all health of our city. If we don't solve this immediate problem of employee benefits, nothing else matters. As Union benefits are unsustainable, it will take someone with experience and acumen to negotiate with union leaders on these run-away costs and to look out for taxpayers' interests.

Politicians have gotten us into this mess by agreeing to lucrative contracts when the economy was booming but also they know, if they play ball, those campaign contributions will "keep on a comin."  It is the mindset of some politicians (not only in Union contracts) that "a contract is a contract" and we need to meet the obligation no matter what. We have done this with non-union contracts that cost us some money to terminate which ended up to the betterment of Lake Worth. Unfavorable, costly and unsustainable contracts to our city must be re-negotiated and 2013 is the time to get serious. It's past time.

Over a year ago, Florida State Senator John Thrasher introduced legislation that would prevent governments from collecting union dues from the paychecks of state union workers. This was one beginning in an effort by a politician but Governments all across the country are considering ways to reduce the costs associated with public unions whose paychecks are substantially higher than the private sector.

When Governor Christie of New Jersey was elected he said, "At some point, there has to be parity between what is happening in the real world and what is happening in the public-sector world."

The Leroy Collins Institute issued a report late last year that gave reviews on the financial health of pension plans in 100 Florida cities. Lake Worth got a D rating. One of the problems is less workers supporting those who are retiring as we, along with many cities, have had to lay-off workers in order to meet budget. Other reasons are just plain union greed and politician apathy that are killing cities and killing ours.

Their recommendations for local governments on retiree benefits include:

• The minimum age before a retiree qualifies for benefits should be  gradually raised. A reasonable age to begin receiving benefits could be approximately 60.
• Localities should not include overtime or additional earnings/bonus pay  in the base salary used to calculate pension benefits.
  Recommendations for state government on health benefits:
• Among other options, Florida lawmakers should give much consideration to
  repealing current Florida law requiring the implicit subsidization of healthcare benefits for Florida local governmental retirees.
• State oversight by a relevant state agency should be provided in statute  to manage local retiree health benefit obligations. This agency should establish standards and provide technical assistance, if desired, to local government staff and local officials.  Recommendations for state and local governments on administration and  transparency:
• Cities should set a minimum contribution rate to ensure minimal  contribution levels during good years and reduce the need to significantly increase contributions during periods of fiscal stress.
• The statutory restrictions on the use of premium tax dollars that link  increases in tax premium funds to the provision of additional benefits should be reduced or removed. Cities and counties should be able to use premium tax dollars to cover their current pension obligations.
• Localities should improve the accessibility of funding, actuarial  reporting and liabilities information to its taxpayers.

An editorial that the PB Post got right

Fire-Rescue Benefits

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Letter to the Editor
Palm Beach Post
THOMAS KEATING
Lake Worth

Blame not vital; renegotiating fire-rescue benefits is

Regarding the editorial, "Best response: Cut salaries": Don't Blame Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue employees for the high salaries and pensions their unions were able to negotiate when the tax rolls were booming. They perform a valuable service and should be well-compensated for doing what many others could not.

But the real estate party is over, and the county is now saddled with an unsustainable $316 million fire-rescue budget to fund these bloated salaries and pensions that clearly rocketed far too high in a few short years. Regardless of whether our county commissioners or the union negotiators are more to blame for this debacle, the more important question is how quickly these contracts can be renegotiated back down to more sensible, sustainable levels. If it doesn't happen soon, taxpayers will be whacked again by yet another special property tax to fund boom-time salaries and pensions the county no longer can afford.