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Ronne Froman Now Senior VP at General Atomics
Boy, Froman really knows how to land on her feet. She retired from a cushy civilian-like post as US Navy "mayor" and took a post as financial hatchet for Alan Bersin at SD Unified, where she did a poor-to-fair job but got out pretty quickly, before her legacy was tied together with his mean-spirited persona. She then went to the Red Cross, where by all accounts she helped burnish its tarnished public image for a couple of years, no matter whether anything fundamental changed in the organization. Lo and behold, she then became the right-hand woman to Mayor Sanders, who apparently was smitten with her from his Red Cross connections. Didn't stay there very long, but give her credit for leaving before the roof caved in on her. And now another plushy post at General Atomics, where from the description you provide we really know nothing about what she will do. But the odds seem pretty good that her benefit to GA will come from her now ivy-like connections to would-be rainmakers rather than from any knowledge about how to actually bring progress in energy alternatives. And wouldn't you like to have her cumulative retirement benefits? They probably make the city's DROP program look positively puny!!— December 12, 2007 7:23 p.m.
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
Guess then I need not remind you that the figures I provided were also PRESENT VALUE. If your point was to illustrate that city employees are paid too much, why didn't you just say so? My point was to illustrate that getting a million dollar pension isn't really as big of a deal as you're making it. Regardless of what city employees make vs private sector employees, and even if we use your figure of $43K/yr, the "average Joe" in San Diego should be able to have a million dollar retirement. Care to comment on the fact that almost 60% of the retirement bill is paid for by investment income and NOT the citizens?— December 12, 2007 4:07 p.m.
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
I agree with poster #1... Sure one million dollars sounds dramatic and will be a great sound bite for Mr. Aguirre, but the fact is 50K a year for the next 20 really isn't all that much considering the cost of living in San Diego. Are some getting more? Absolutely. City executives earned more and retirement compensation will be comensurate. But they also very few of those compared to total number of pensioners. Just like any corporation in America. Besides it seems to me it's been the citizens who have demanded the levels of service, thus the personnel necessary to provide the services demanded. If the service levels are inappropriate, then the City should reduce the number of employees and thereby reduce the number of pensioners.— December 12, 2007 10:48 a.m.
Charges Against Moores Dismissed in Civil Suit
1. John Moores swindled investors out of at least $650 million. 2. John Moores bribed at least one sitting council member, forcing her resignation. 3. John Moores has hired former staff and elected officials of the city, county, and state to do his bidding. McGrory and Peace are prominent among these political prostitutes 4. John Moores reneged on promises of open space, TOT revenues from hotels he never built, offices turned to condos. 5. John Moores brought in highly paid ringers to rig a winning season just days before the vote on the giveaway, and the very next season we saw the steroid and meth using "stars" leave and the team return to its losing ways. Obvious conclusion: If Fumber or any other poster wishes to refute any of these points, please do so. But declaring that I have enuresis won't detract from the many criminal charges that ought to be filed against the scumbag known as John Moores.— December 12, 2007 9:12 a.m.
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
Don, I have no idea what the average city employee pay is, but the average household income in SD County is $47K/year.— December 12, 2007 8:59 a.m.
Why Britney Spears Hates San Diego (and we're not fond of her, either)
this isnt new...read this last week. recycling your articles now Jay?— December 11, 2007 9:21 p.m.
Check Please
Why is this column called the Daily Crasher? It should be called the Daily Whiner because all you do is whine and complain about things. You're like Jerry Seinfeld with no punchlines.— December 11, 2007 9:19 p.m.
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
Let's look at this another way, Don. Let's do a rough estimate for the "average Joe" in San Diego. The average household income in SD County is $47K/yr. If that "average Joe" puts away 10% of his income (with no employer match) in a 401K and works for 30 years he'll have $611K at the end, assuming an 8% return. (Reasonable given the stock market annual return of 12%) Note that SDCERS employees put in an average of 13% of salary into their own retirement. Using 13% for "average Joe" gives us $746K. Should there be an employer match just 5% of that $47K on top of the 13%, "average Joe" now has $1.035 million. Note that this assumes no inflation at all. Joe doesn't get a pay raise for 30 years, and the return stays at 8%. Turns out "average Joe" is getting a million bucks too. But 90% of SDCERS retirees aren't. Again, we're talking about less than 10% of SDCERS retirees having a million dollar pension. The average pension for all SDCERS retirees in 2005 was a little over $30K/yr, or well less than the average household income in SD County.— December 11, 2007 9:15 p.m.
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
Don, yes, a lump sum earns interest for the person who receives the lump sum. In a retirement pay situation, SDCERS keeps the interest and uses it to build principal. In a lump sum situation, the retiree keeps all the interest. Look at the 2005 SDCERS report. Almost 60% of the funds in SDCERS are from investment income, not from city contributions. As far as "retire so early" goes, also according to SDCERS the average age of retirement in 2005 was almost 59. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average age of all Americans retiring is 62. Let's see, three years out of sixty (or so)? Not quite five percent?— December 11, 2007 8:55 p.m.
314 City Retirees Getting $1 Million or More
So what's your point Don? The average SD employee retires somewhere around 60. The average life span is somewhere around 80. So 20 years x $50K/yr = a million bucks. Yes, that's a retirement just over the average family income in SD. But we're talking top level executives here. Less than 10% of the employees. That's NOT the equivalent of a million dollar lump sum. The money that has been put in trust for these folks continues to build interest over that 20 years. (Not to mention the previous 30 that they worked) That interest pays the retiree, not the principal. Remember the SDCERS made something like 13% over the past 10 years. Plus, the system gets to keep the principal for the folks that don't make it the full 20 in many cases.— December 11, 2007 7:14 p.m.