A memo to first-year City Manager Mark Scott:
Come on, Mr. Scott.
These are not Jerry Fulwood’s naive Culver City residents of five years ago.
These are heavily taxed citizens living in difficult times, paying the highest taxes in the state.
Your invocations before each City Council meeting may sound a lot better and more upbeat than your predecessor.
But the message is the same.
Oh, Great High One, help the Reserve Funds hold out until my retirement, and may the city’s PERS Retirement Golden Parachute be large enough to support a soft retirement landing with all of the city’s money I will carry with me.
These golden handshake deals will cost the city millions of dollars if they retire 8 to 12 managers under this plan.
When the former Police Chief Ted Cooke retired in 2003, the city paid him $85,000 to buy two extra years of retirement. The City Council told the community that it was being paid to him because he was going to look for Homeland Security grants for the city.
At today’s pay rates, each year purchased by the city for these retiring managers will be between $60,000 and $80,000 per year.
What does the city gain from this?
Nothing.
A Hike for the City Manager
What does it mean to the retiring employee who already will be making over $100,000 a year in retirement, only an additional $12,000 to $30,000 per year in retirement for the rest of his or her life.
I noticed recently in this nwspaper that it is Mr. Scott’s six-month anniversary. According to his contract, I believe he is due a $30,000 raise, placing his salary in the neighborhood of $262,000.
As for the hiring and promotion freeze in the city that Mr. Scott has been talking about, it hasn’t affected the Police Dept.
They promoted an Assistant Chief and two Sergeants in the past two weeks. They have continued to hire police officers for the past six months.
The city reserve funds are going fast, and people are standing around with their hands in their pockets talking about what we should do.
Mr. Scott said he would not have moved back to Southern California unless the opportunity was to work in Culver City because it was a solid, well-run city where he saw a lot of potential.
For the sake of the people of Culver City, I hope those statements are true. I hope we are not is a naïve community with Big Reserves.
Mr. Smith, a retired police officer, may be contacted at scsinternationalinvestigations.com
