Felony Corruption and Public Sector Unions

Otay Water District Approves Health Care For Life: U-T
Saturday, July 16, 2011
posted by Bradley J. Fikes

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The Otay Water District voted Friday to extend lifetime retiree health benefits to district managers and their spouses, and could do the same for a larger group of employees in a month.

The Board of Directors voted 4-1 to approve the new benefits. Board member Mark Robak cast the lone dissenting vote. He noted that the district did not release a key financial analysis of the action in backup material provided with the board’s agenda.San Diego Rostra

How do they get the money?

The four directors who voted in favor of the benefit said they did so because staff said the cost of the lifetime benefits will be offset by increasing employee pension contributions from 1 percent of salary to 8 percent.

Make the Peons pay, Brown would be proud. But the Peons found out about the rip off:

Simply amazing. Otay Water District’s board, far from chastened by the reaction to its approving health care for life for top executives, is set to vote today on extending them to all its rank-and-file employees.

It is nice to know water peons can still read. So who pays now?

From a column by Lani Lutar, president and CEO of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, also in the Union-Tribune, whose Watchdog group broke this story.

At the Otay Water District, customer water rates have increased by more than 40 percent over the past two years, and are scheduled to increase again in January by 7.7 percent. Yet, instead of making their own sacrifices alongside ratepayers, the general manager of the Otay Water District recently led the charge to enhance retirement benefits for management with extraordinary lifetime health care and dental benefits for the managers and their dependents. Board members voted 4-1 to approve these lavish new benefits. . . .

In other words, supply less water to the district! So what started as a corrupt payola to the district executives end up being less water for citizens, forever! This is Jerry Brown's system at work.