[imc-st.louis] Fwd: Prop. S

[Ben West]

Recent statement from the Mayor's office about Proposition S.
Compare/contrast this with the statement from Gateway Greens from
1/27/08.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barb Potts <nso at mlc.net>
Date: Feb 1, 2008 2:45 PM
Subject: [BPW-Talk] Prop. S

Some people have asked about Proposition S. Here is the background:

Proposition S is a half cent sales tax that would allow the City to
put more police officers on neighborhood patrol, and meet its
obligations to the police and fire pension systems without damaging
cuts in public safety. Proposition S would also allow the City to
increase the pay of police officers and firefighters and invest in
proven strategies to prevent crime.

On the other hand, if Proposition S fails, something will have to
give. Either the cost of compensation will have to be reduced, or
revenues that support public safety will have to be used to cover the
City's obligations. More on that in a moment.

A little background is in order. The police pension fund and the
firefighter pension fund are governed by active and retired police
officers and firefighters. The State of Missouri sets the benefits and
the City of St. Louis pays for the allocated costs.

During the 1990s, the City allocated very little money because the
systems had large surpluses. That was not the City's decision. That
happened because of the way the systems allocate their costs. The
State also increased benefits for police officers in the 1990s because
of the large surpluses.

The pension funds are well managed. But, the systems lost a lot of
money in the stock market after the tech bubble burst in about 2000.
Large surpluses because large deficits. When Mayor Slay took office,
the system's request for City revenue went from about $7-million per
year to more than $50-million per year out of a ~$400-million budget.
The City in fact tripled its payments to the funds. If it had made all
of the payments, the City would have had to close multiple fire houses
and lay off scores of police.

As it is, the City's pension costs have tripled and its health care
costs have doubled. That has made it very difficult to hire as many
police officers as we need, and to provide active police officers with
adequate pay raises.

It is up to the taxpayers to decide whether our police officers
deserve their pensions and better pay. If the taxpayers decide against
approving Proposition S, the City, its citizens and its employees
groups-- including police officers-- will have to determine what to
cut.

If Proposition S does pass, police officers will get the pensions they
deserve, a modest pay raise without damaging cuts to public safety,
and we will be able to put more officers on neighborhood patrol.

If you have questions, feel free to email me back.

Thanks,

Jeff Rainford
Chief of Staff
Mayor's Office

rainfordj at stlouiscity.com

----
Ben West
westbywest at gmail.com
http://savetheinternet.org