Tri-Valley TEA Party to voice opinions to city leaders at City Council meeting

Citizens, unions and the TEA Party to voice opinions to city leaders before contract approval vote. 

Local citizens, including those from the TriValley Patriots TEA Party, will speak before Pleasanton's city council Tuesday evening and provide input on the new police contract now under consideration.  The city is hoping to regain control of skyrocketing personnel costs and mounting long term debt incurred by city employee pension obligations.

Pleasanton City Council Meeting

Tuesday, Feb 7th, 7pm

City Council Chamber

200 Old Bernal Avenue

    "The TEA Party loves our police here in Pleasanton!  We consider it an outrage that valued employees of the city, brave men and women who keep us safe, are now running up against the reality of unsustainable promises made by irresponsible politicians in the past.  The current pension cost structure is unsustainable and on a path to failure.  We need to ensure that the police officers who protect us have a realistic retirement plan that they can count on for a stable retirement, without bankrupting the city." says David Miller, a Pleasanton resident and TriValley Patriots TEA Party member.

     The city of Pleasanton's personnel costs are now 79% of general budget and have begun consuming funds critical to maintain services such as parks, road maintenance and library support.  Pleasanton now has an unfunded pension liability that has grown from $120M to $137M over the past year.  Unfunded pension liability occurs when the CalPERs pension fund's investments do not perform as expected and there is not enough money to cover employee benefits promised in the future.  Any shortfall must be paid by the city.  

     Cities like Pleasanton have few options to increase revenues. Imposing additional tax burdens on the citizens is not only difficult but unfair, so money to pay unfunded liabilities will have to come directly from the city budget.  This will take critical funds away from other city services, once again letting down the taxpayers who the government exists to serve and protect. 

"It is immoral to pass the costs of employee benefits earned today onto our children tomorrow.  It is time to solve this problem in a way that is fair to both the city employees as well as the taxpayers," says Miller.  

     This is not the first time Pleasanton has made news related to pensions.  In January 2011, a coalition of citizens presented the city with a petition requesting a budget workshop be held to better understand how the pension situation affects Pleasanton finances.  The workshop's budget revelations resulted in renegotiation of a tentative contract with the general city workers union.