Why did the City approve a $156.00 tow fee. Could it be to make it easy to contract this group out to the private sector? Yes that is the only reason. The Towing Operations wrongly pays millions of dollars to the General fund. Why would there be any money to pay to the general fund. If this is for the tax payers the tow should be charged at a rate of $69.00 with no payment to the general fund. All the tows done at the City operation is for only the City of Long Beach and they have no other customers.
They rate the private sector charges for their Police calls to arrive at a median fee of $156.00. This is very wrong the private sector will drop any call to run the more expensive call. Auto Clubs, or commercial accounts they do for far less money.
The City is in dire need of money. They will claim they charge what the services costs. That very well could be true with the high cost of salaries and pension benefits the City has to pay employees.
The fully loaded including payments for property for Fleet, Towing Operations, Trucks,Employees, Retirement everything is inflated to $83.00 cost of the tow. This should be the rate charged to the public. This should be a service preformed just like any other delivering service to the tax payers. Cars and trucks need to be towed for many reasons to include crimes, evidence, arson, expired registration, unpaid parking tickets and on and on. There should not be such a profit to do this at the tax payers and residents expense.
separately to the concept of the fat benefits the City workers have. When there was no money for raises the City of Long Beach took the obligation to pay the Employees cost for the retirement package. They did not give raises to the Employees. Obligation only and never in all the years payed our payment we would have been glad to pay. After the agreement the City decided the fund was super funded and required no payment. We were happy to pay our part for our retirement it was and has been all pretax dollars or savings for us. During all the years until a payment was required. At that point percentages were given back to the Employees. The City of Long Beach never paid .01c to the retirement on behalf of the employee. What a joke.
The last audited financial statement for fiscal year 2008 shows the contribution to CalPERS for safety employees was 24.685% and for miscellaneous employees, it was 19.886%. I have requested the 2009 figures, but have not received them yet.
Of these percentages, the employees pay 2%. Until a few years ago, the employees contribution was 1% of the 24.685% and 19.886% contribution.
It is estimated that by 2013, the contribution for safety employees could rise to 48% - 49%.
No one is blaming the employees; but we do blame the past City Council, who voted to implement the pension enhancements and the and current City Council for failing to demand pension reform sooner.
You are very correct, but you say nothing that the pensions have already started to reform and will continue to reform from the new hires coming to work have a Pers/Pars combination and need to stay to retirement to collect the Pars money. If they leave the City keeps that money.
The current situation needs addressing now. The new Pars program will do nothing to help Long Beach's ongoing structural defict. That will only be helped with money now, and total reform of a system that continues to drain money from the General Fund. The pension enhancement in 2002 was never funded; they were retroactive increases. Neither the employee or the city contributed to the cost. When you have miscellaneous employees retiring 10 years sooner than they previously required, and no one paid into the pension costs during these years, it will take years to recover. That is why the anticipated costs for public safety is expected to rise to 48% of payroll by 2013.
Only serious reform will help. The City's bandaid (Pars) will do nothing.
Has anyone heard that LBCC is planning to double deck the parking lot across from the Carson campus while the lot at Veterans Stadium remains half full. I guess with students being obese that one block walk is too tiresome. Security in the double deck will be an enormous problem. Remember no one has ever been caught for the previous sexual assaults on the two campuses.It seems like another extravident waste of money. There last campus building project is almost two years behind schedule.
It was announced thiis week that Long Beach City College is starting a 27 million dollar parking structure at the liberal arts campus. Vet's Stadium is less than a quarter full but evidently the one block walk is too far for the obese students. Wouldn't the money be much better spent on class room instruction. The schools academic ranking continues to slip every year and the money surely could be spent on better things.