[Mpls] Minneapolis pensions

[Phyllis Kahn]

Its always interesting to see when the issue turns from analysis of the
facts to personal invective as in Mark Snyder's post. He stated in
part:

"If Rep. Kahn can't understand what our Council and mayor are doing
here to
protect taxpayer interests and wants to threaten our city leaders with
punitive legislation, then maybe she's the one who needs to go, not
Ostrow,
Samuels, Schiff, Zimmerman, Goodman or mayor Rybak."

The decision before the Mpls city council was did they want to save 16
million next year, 40 million over the next 5 years (subtracting the
cost of 10 million for the benefit increase), preserve 30 million in
state financial commitments (which will be even more difficult to get
this year) and reduce the need for bonding for pensions to 8 million
instead of the 25 million they have authorized (against the
recommendation of the Board of Estimate and Taxation, or at least
without it).  The members I cited turned this down and MS agrees with
them. He also appears to believe that it is punitive to remove an option
to bond for pensions without a referendum, an option no other city in
the state  (and possibly the country) has used. The 3 funds and the
teachers fund have totally different problems and none are asking for
benefit increases. (MERF specifically stated this). Thus the other
statement of MS :

 "Especially coupled with the point that RT Rybak and Paul Ostrow made
that if
they had agreed with that deal for the police pensioners, the other
two
funds would have had their hands out in a hot second, which pretty
much
would wipe out any "savings" that us taxpayers would see."

is completely wrong. If it were true the simple answer would be that
we'll give you 10 million for every 40 million you give us any time you
ask. An additional aside is that the MERF problem was caused by stupid
decisions  of the city council in 1995 and again in 2002 and 2003 to
give early retirement options to help the city budget WITHOUT
considering their effect on the pension fund.
I worked on the Teachers fund issue with Mark Dayton when he was State
Auditor and he commissioned a terrific study which pointed out reasons
for the Teachers Fund losses. An article on this is somewhere  in my
files and the Strib archives. Mark started to put in a software and
reporting system but the next State Auditor dismantled it probably
because she had defeated Don Moe by promising not to go after public
employee pension funds. These are not easy issues so people should be
careful of their facts before spouting off. I have tried to give only
facts and have always indicated where there are different
prognostications....like is the saving 24 million instead of 40 million
in the police pension bill.

Phyllis Kahn State Rep 59B