Santa Monica over forty public employee "pension jockpots" announced

July 24, 11:57 AMMarin Republican ExaminerMark D. Hill

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 Santa Monica, California -   Many Bay Area communities and Counties have resisted releasing their  $100k retiree earners fearing a backlash from voters and taxpayers.   These lifetime payouts "crowd out"  budgets for community leaders, forcing huge cuts in programs for the needy, seniors, libraries, schools, non profits and other high priority needs of communities.  According to the Santa Monica Dispatch, a small independent  local paper,  "Santa Monica employees hit the pension jackpot."   www.santamonicadispatch.com/Santa Monica has a total population of 55,000.    Like cities in Marin County by population are Novato and San Rafael (50,000 and 57,000 respectively) www.beachcalifornia.com/marin-county-population.html.     

Here is a narrative and list provided by the Dispatch yesterday:

"As you will see, most of the pensioners are former SMPD and SMFD officers, along with a couple of former City Managers, a pair of deputy City Attorneys, a rent control administrator,  and, lo, a research  librarian.

James Butts $18,239.03 a month — $218,868.36 a year (former SMPD Police Chief)
Gary Gallinot $14,728.05 — $176,736.60 (former SMPD Lieutenant)
Ettore Berardinelli, $14,084.11 — 169,009.32 (former Fire Chief)
Roy McGinnis $12,814.47 — $153,773.64 (former SMPD Captain)
John Miehle $12,359.00 — $148,308.00 (former SMPD Lieutenant)
Francisco Fabrega $12,075.87 — $144,910.44 (former SMPD Lieutenant, currently with LAWA)
Bijan Jalili $11,683.98 — $140,207.76 (former City Manager, aka “John” Jalili)
Walter Hard $11,048.88 — $132,586.56,
(former SMPD captain)
Mary Yurkonis $11,008.93 — $132,107.16 (former Rent Board administrator)
William Kolberg $11,005.06 — $132,060.72 (former Deputy Fire Chief)
George Centeno $10,843.31 — $130,119.72 (former SMPD Lieutenant, currently LAWA Police Chief)
Michael Murphy $10,798.52 — $129,582.24
Susan McCarthy $10,798.20 — $129,578.40 (former City Manager)
William Curtis $10,363.17 — $124,358.04
Kenneth Polhill $10,330.28 — $123,963.36 (former Fire Dept. Captain)
Paul Gonzales $10,301.96 — $123,623.52
William Brucker, $10,188.38 — $122,260.56 (former SMPD Lieutenant)
Larry Larson $9,991.84 — $119,902.08
Robert Harvey $9,972.68 — $119,672.16 (Arcadia Water Treatment Plant)
David Saxby $9,900.88 — $118,810.56
James Keane $9,834.26 — $118,011.12 (former Police Chief – preceded James Butts)
Jaime Fernandez $9,602.84 — $115,234.08 (former Fire Dept. Captain)
Richard Bridges $9,421.67 — $113,060.04 (former Fire Chief)
George Menta $9,401.41 — $112,816.92 (former Fire Dept. Captain)
Thomas Mapes $9,111.67 — $109,340.04
Patrick Armstrong $9,089.60 — $109,075.20 (retired SMPD Sergeant)
Michael Landis $9,055.01 — $108,660.12
John Montenero, Jr. $9,026.91 — $108,322.92 (former Fire Chief)
Steven Wells $8,954.63 — $107,455.56
Gregory Slaughter $8,930.70 — $107,168.40 (former SMPD Lieutenant)
Robert Ayer $8,901.25 — $ 106,815.00 (Drug & Alcohol Program Manager)
Linda Mills $8,877.49 — $106,529.88 (former Deputy City Attorney)
Norman Hirata $8,814.16 — $105,769.92 (former Deputy City Attorney)
Patrick Cates $8,769.99 — $105,239.88 (Fire Dept. Engineer)
Judith Franz $8,751.78 — $105,021.36 (former Assistant to the City Manager, aka Judy Rambeau)
Craig Collier $8,735.90 — $104,830.80 (Fire Dept. Battalion Chief)
Nancy O’Neill $8,700.45 — $104,405.40 (Principal Reference Librarian, SMPL)
Stanley Conger $8,657.96 — $103,895.52
Harry Wirtz $48,605.96 — $103,271.52
John Hutchison $8,375.23 — $ 100,502.76
Margaret Bendiksen $8,342.92 — $100,115.04

The original information was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)."  There were no comments provided by Santa Monica city leaders or Santa Monica public employee unions. 

Critics of the current pension retirement system in California and her counties and cities, is that having these size of lifetime payouts are unsustainable and "crowd out" a large or small community's ability to do anything but pay for public employees who have retired with bloated pensions and benefits.   The City of Vallejo, California , declared bankruptcy in 2006, when union retiree pensions totalled fully 80% of the city budget.    The benefits were seen as a token gift for the political support given public officials during elections.   To date, both the City of Novato and San Rafael have not released their unfunded pension and medical liabilities nor their $100k a year retirees.