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Fair board complaint could die

November 19th, 2009, 4:44 pm by Jennifer Muir

Allegations that the Orange County Fair Board violated open meeting and conflict of interest laws may not ever be officially resolved.

Orange County’s head lawyer Nicholas Chrisos last month complained about the fair board to the state Attorney General, who declined to look at the case. See, the AG also represents the fair board on legal matters, so it would be a conflict. Plus, the county’s District Attorney should investigate crimes in OC, the attorney general said.

DA spokeswoman Susan Schroeder said earlier this week that the attorney general was forwarding the complaint to her office, and they’d look into it. This morning she clarified: The AG responded to the county, and did not forward the case to the district attorney. So her office is waiting on the county to file a complaint before they can investigate, she says.

That might not happen. When asked today whether the county plans to pursue the allegations further, a spokeswoman would only cryptically say: “County counsel is reviewing its options.”

Chrisos’ complaint alleges that the fair board misused public money when they hired former state Sen. Dick Ackerman and a consulting firm to influence the state’s sale of the fair grounds. Fair board members also have formed a nonprofit that’s looking into buying the 150-acre fairgrounds and if they do, could get perks such as free parking, Chrisos wrote. So, Chrisos argues, the fair board used the public money to pay for contracts that could personally benefit them financially.

Fair board members also are quiet on the complaint and referred calls to board chairwoman Kristina Dodge. A secretary for Dodge said she would not be available until Friday.

Posted in: County government | Post a Comment »

Don’t use the toll roads? You pay for them anyway

November 18th, 2009, 6:00 am by Jennifer Muir

roadCan’t afford to drive on the toll roads? Then chances are it’ll be decades before you’ll see some $7.3 million in federal stimulus cash at work.

That’s how much the feds are spending on asphalt improvements on the 73 — along a 12.3-mile section of the road where you can’t take your car unless you pony up lots of pocket change.

So the Watchdog called Jennifer Seaton, a spokeswoman for the Toll Road Agencies, to ask the next obvious question: If my tax dollars are paying for new asphalt on the road, then why do I have to pay again to drive on it?

(TCA is the government agency that operates the 73, 241, 261 and 133 toll roads in Orange County.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Federal spending • Money • State government • Traffic • Transportation | 53 Comments »

County lawyer: OC fair board violated law

November 17th, 2009, 2:04 pm by Jennifer Muir

Has the Orange County Fair Board gone too far in its efforts to preserve the Orange County Fairgrounds?

Orange County’s head attorney believes it has. In an Oct. 30 letter to the state attorney general asking for an investigation into possible illegal activity, county counsel Nicholas Chrisos raises questions about whether the fair board illegally used public money to pay for lobbyists charged with influencing the state’s sale of the fair grounds.

Board members also have formed a nonprofit foundation that could buy and operate the fairgrounds, and Chrisos says the public contracts were aimed at ensuring their foundation would be qualified to bid — essentially using public money for personal gain. Here’s how he figures:

“If past practice holds, members of the Foundation Board would enjoy some (even if minimal) perquisites, such as free tickets to the fair, parking passes,” the letter says. “Those are financial interests.”

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Posted in: County government • OC Fair | 14 Comments »

O.C. water exec gets raise and $15,000 bonus

October 28th, 2009, 3:09 pm by Jennifer Muir

ocwd-gmAs public agencies across the state are cutting their budgets and laying off staff, the Orange County Water District’s board has approved a 10 percent raise for its general manager.

That means Michael Markus will be collecting $215,000, up from the $195,000 he’s been earning since he took over the job two years ago. Plus, he gets a $15,000 one-time bonus.

Oh, and the pay raise will be applied retroactively to July 1, 2009.

District board member Philip Anthony says Markus deserves the pay raise to reward the hard work he’s put in over his 20 years with the district, including spearheading the construction of a sewage-to-water reclamation system that turn 70 million gallons of treated sewage into drinking water every day.

“It’s a world-famous project,” Anthony said.”He and our district received awards worldwide. He’s done an exceptional, unusually good job. And his job, as is, is a lot bigger than (other water district managers) who make a lot of money.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Special districts • Water | 147 Comments »

OC’s questionable planning fees won’t change until December

October 27th, 2009, 1:18 pm by Jennifer Muir

build-your-own-solar-panel-main_fullPlanning to renovate your home in unincorporated Orange County?

You might want to wait until the new year to start.

That’s because the county’s planning department won’t change the way it charges — and sometimes overcharges — residents for simple planning permits until sometime in December.

They’re researching and finalizing new fees, and that takes time, Public Works Director Jess Carbajal told the county’s board of supervisors today.

The county’s current  practice is called charging for Time and Materials, and it was one of the main problems called out in July in a  scathing audit of the county’s planning department, which described customer service as “mediocre at best.”

Still, two months later, the Watchdog talked to retired police officer Mark Rodina, who was charged more than $400 for a permit that would cost just under $50 in Fountain Valley under the time and materials system. (Rodina needed to update the aging electrical panel in his home so he could install solar panels. County officials have noted that many cities subsidize the cost of issuing permits.)

Nobody disputes that Rodina was overcharged. Still the system is slow to change. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: County government • Silly policies | 2 Comments »

Supes ponder legislation to stop double dipping

October 20th, 2009, 2:47 pm by Jennifer Muir

Orange County could soon back legislation aimed at stopping double-dipping, the practice of retirees collecting their pension, then going back to work for another public agency.

Supervisor John Moorlach today asked the county’s legislative staff to begin looking at crafting legislation that could curtail the practice.

“The people who double dip are not bad people,” Moorlach said. “This is a system that has allowed them to do certain things like this.”

Here’s how the system works and how Moorlach is thinking of changing it: Right now, public employees who retire under one public system, such as the California Public Employees Retirement System, can’t collect a pension and go back to work full time for another agency if the second agency also is under same retirement system.

They can still double-dip, but they can’t work more than 960 hours a year.

But if a Calpers retiree goes to work for an agency like Orange County, which has its own retirement system, they can collect a pension and a paycheck for working full time. That’s why Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and CEO Tom Mauk are able to rake in nearly half a million dollars a piece each year when you add up their pay and pension.

Moorlach thinks there should be a law that requires public employee retirement systems to work together and offer reciprocity instead of allowing folks to collect two checks every month. It would be no different than when an Orange County employee who is not retired goes to work for Los Angeles County: The two retirement systems work together to transfer over pension credit for the worker’s eventual retirement.

So he asked staff to look into crafting legislation and how it would work.

(Worth noting: A ballot initiative by the pension watchdog group the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility also plans to address the double-dipper issue. Moorlach sits on the foundation’s advisory board.)

Board chairwoman Pat Bates said the effort should dovetail with the county’s effort to come up with a policy for the other kind of double dippers — county retirees who come back to work part time. And she asked that staff also look at elected officials with term limits who get a pension.

Posted in: 000-plus pension club • Big public pension club • County government • pensions | 54 Comments »

The double-dipper database

October 16th, 2009, 10:00 am by Jennifer Muir

boomerang1Are you collecting a publicly-funded pension in California but aren’t ready to leave the workforce just yet?

Not to worry. The state of California will help you find a job — and a second paycheck from the government.

Some 4,583 public retirees have signed up for “Boomerang” — the state of California Retiree Job Connection program. State department managers can search the database when they’re looking to hire part-time or temporary employees. The database includes each retiree’s employment preferences and skills.

The practice of collecting a pension and simultaneously going back to work for a public agency is known as double-dipping.

It’s not illegal, but it’s come under fire as agencies across the state grapple with how to reform financially unsustainable pension systems that allow public workers to retire young with nearly the same pay they made when they were clocking in every day.

The Los Angeles Times’ Patrick McGreevy analyzed state retirement data and discovered thousands of double dippers across the state:

State records show that more than 5,600 others are drawing double checks, a figure 57% higher than a decade ago. Meanwhile, billions of dollars — $3.3 billion in this fiscal year alone — are being siphoned from the state budget to cover pension system expenses.

Orange County is even hammering out a policy to address when its retirees can return to work for the county — an effort aimed at avoiding “potential indiscretions regarding the use of retirees.”

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Posted in: Big public pension club | 68 Comments »

O.C. double-dippers rake in nearly a half million a year

October 14th, 2009, 5:13 am by Jennifer Muir

There’s nothing like sticker shock.

That’s just what The Watchdog gets looking at the total amount of dinero county bigwigs like CEO Tom Mauk and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens collect each year.

maukWhen you add up the pensions they collect from their previous place of employment, and the salaries and benefits they accrue in O.C., they’re raking in nearly a half million bucks a piece. (More specifically, Hutchens earns $492,243 a year from her pension, salary and benefits, and Mauk gets $487,805. We’ll break down those figures later in this post.)

Mauk and Hutchens are among the other type of double-dippers working in Orange County. You might remember that the Watchdog wrote a couple weeks ago about Orange County employees who retire, start collecting their pensions, then come back to the county to work part-time.

At the time, many of you asked about double-dippers such as Hutchens and Mauk: People who simultaneously collect a pension check and paycheck because they’ve retired from one government agency, then gone to work for another.  The Watchdog heard your whistle.hutchens

The practice is common among government employees with pension deals that allow them to retire young with nearly the same pay they made during their working years. And it presents prickly ethical questions for the agencies trying to fill their top leadership positions with the most qualified employees while also advocating for pension reform.

“People are gaming the system clearly,” says Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby. “But they’re not the ones at fault. The system is at fault. If we’re incentivizing people to retire early and get a pension, then incentivizing them to get a job with a full-time salary, it’s hard to blame them as individuals.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: 000-plus pension club • Big public pension club • County government • Public safety • pensions | 237 Comments »

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