Tag "pensions"
Back to homepageDemocrats Pass Hinky Budget
JUNE 29, 2011 By KATY GRIMES With a surprising lack of debate between parties, the California Legislature passed the budget late last evening, and only with a majority vote, attempting to close what began the year as a $26.6 billion
Read MoreShallow Cuts For Lifeguard Pensions
Katy Grimes: With the recent discovery that many Southern California lifeguards receive the same fat pensions as other “public safety” officers and fire fighters, the public outcry at the absurdity is apparently paying off. The Newport Beach City Council is
Read MoreCA Overdue For Part-Time Legislature
JUNE 27, 2011 The latest budget drama shows how California needs a part-time Legislature. It hasn’t had one since the late 1960s. Since then, few budgets have been balanced while meeting the June 15 constitutional deadline. In the past 24
Read MoreCity Privatization Sabotaged?
Katy Grimes: When employees who mow grass for the city of Sacramento are paid $60,000 annually, medical benefits and a nice pension, you know that the inmates are running the asylum. Unskilled labor jobs, which in the real world are
Read MoreThe Paycheck Protection Budget
JUNE 17, 2011 The California Legislature just passed a budget. Less than 24 hours later, the governor vetoed it, leaving many political wonks scratching their heads in wonderment at why Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a budget from his own party.
Read MoreBrown Debt Gimmicks 'Balance' Budget
JUNE 14, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Most knowledgeable people realize that California’s debt emperor has no clothes. Even if the mainstream newspaper media continue to clothe the emperor in the robes of an all-wise Buddhist monk who has taken a
Read MoreBridge Tax Fails; Local Tax Passes
JUNE 13, 2011 By KATY GRIMES In the California Senate Friday, after a week of budget talks and hearings, the “bridge” tax extensions failed — for now. If passed, the tax extensions theoretically would balance the state budget until voters
Read MoreDems, GOP Butt Heads on Budget, Taxes
JUNE 9, 2011 By KATY GRIMES Budget showdown time. Rumors have been swarming through the Capitol this week over budget issues. Talk of which legislators might agree to a budget seems to be a moot point, as most budget trailer
Read More$3.9 Million Pension Demands Sunshine
JUNE 9, 2011 By K. Lloyd Billingsley Pension payments such as the $3.9 million in supplemental funds to Samuel Downing, retired chief executive of the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, have touched off outrage among California legislators, editorial writers, and
Read MoreSacramento Is What's Wrong
Katy Grimes: When analyzing the issues of the cities and counties in this state, the city of Sacramento stands out as a textbook example of what not to do, and what’s wrong with local government. Our current city council is
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