WASTED AWAY AGAIN IN BOB GARDNERVILLE

On Tuesday, Mono County Supervisors approved a new labor contract, and then learned just how far behind they are in funding their employee pension obligations. 

And reacted as if the former had zero impact on the latter. 

The three-year labor contract unanimously approved Tuesday with the MCPE (Mono County Public Employees) calls for a 7% salary hike effective immediately, with 3% COLAs (cost-of-living adjustments) in 2025 and 2026. 

The U.S. inflation rate for the previous 12 months ending November, 2023 was 3.1%. 

Supervisors then heard a presentation by consultant Dan Matusiewicz of the firm GovInvest regarding pension funding.

County Finance Director Janet Dutcher said this was the first time Supervisors had revisited the topic in more than two years. 

During that time, CalPers investment returns were up 21% one year, and then down 6% then next. 

The CalPers baseline expected return is 6.8%. 

Overall, the County’s pension obligation remains approximately 68% funded. 

And the County will pay $6.96 million next year to the retirement fund, up from $5.63 million this year. 

Due to inflation, Matusiewicz said, “During 2022, retirees received their highest COLA in thirty years.” 

The County’s pension obligation is expected to crest at $8.5 million in 2031 before receding. 

That’s if CalPers returns hit projections. 

Much of this (spike in obligations) is due to generous promises made to Boomers before benefit formulas were adjusted in 2013. 

Dutcher said 70% of new pension obligations are now subject to PEPRA (Public Employee Pension Reform Act) – meaning, employees who started in 2013 or later. 

Supervisor Bob Gardner asked several leading questions designed to reassure or coax positive answers (so he could feel fiscally responsible) before declaring that what he’d seen were “really great numbers.” 

If by great he meant large, then he would be correct. 

In school, 68% generally earns you a “D.” 

***

A few thoughts as I casually tuned into Tuesday’s STR Moratorium Committee meeting. 

It was so typical. You get the consultant who does a deep dive into a bunch of public data which is honestly somewhat suspect (We had horrible Census turnout around here in 2020). 

The data showed large population loss during the pandemic, but … I think of the reporters I’ve had over the past few years and none of them have registered their cars and none have registered to vote. So they’re here, and they’ve been housed, but “Big Data” doesn’t know that. 

It’s interesting because when I moved here, the police kind of made it a point to gently harass people into changing their vehicle registration. 

The only reason Pike finally changed his Georgia registration to California was because he moved to San Francisco and he needed California plates to get a parking pass. 

There was also a part where the consultant listed all the new projects (Limelight, et. al.) expected to come online over the next few years, suggesting that this will exacerbate the problem, suggesting that some existing STRs should be culled to support the new boss, same as the old boss … 

But shouldn’t the consultant have also mentioned the STRs that have come off the books over the past few years? Innsbruck Lodge, Edelweiss Lodge, Sierra Lodge … that’s all become workforce housing.

I know this is more pithy than not, and I’m partial to a turn of the phrase, but as I texted to Sheet reporter Kendall Milender at the meeting Tuesday, “This is my biggest takeaway. The average, well-meaning public servant who ‘wants to make a difference’ is generally enamored of his/her own cleverness. He/she thinks that the data, any data, particularly data that … he/she can’t quite know how it was gathered, but data is data so, you know, it’s trusted implicitly – They think this data is the ultimate tool at their disposal. 

When in fact, the reverse is true. He/she is a tool of the data and the “dispassionate” aggregators and interpreters of that data.

I asked retiring Inyo County District Five Supervisor how many people were running for his now-open seat. 

Seven, he replied. 

And then in his self-deprecating fashion, he added, “They must figure that if a guy like me can do it, anybody can do it.”