Nevada County Grand Jury
2017-2018
From the annual report
The consolidated year-end volume. The individual investigations it contains are listed separately below.
📑 Year-End Report
The full consolidated volume; individual reports are listed below.
Individual reports (29)
Additional Recommendations
8
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents' guide on what to do and not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter. Agree As our current plan does not include a parent guide, uniform instructions developed in conjunction with the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and law enforcement would provide beneficial information to our community members on what to do and what not to do in an emergency situation.
R2:
The Nevada County 5u perintendent of Schools shou ld coord inate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises. Agree The appropriate use of social media by parents and students during actual school emergencies should be addressed in the parents' guide referred to ln Rl.
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the "ALICE" CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt, Olive Road, GGss Valley, CA 95945 (s30) 346-21s3 Fax (530) 346-8ss9 DanEElEr-Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district's board should direct and fund the deployment and training of this exercise. Disagree The NCSOS already has developed a means to train teachers (and students) in uniform safety and security protocols that include "ALlCE" trainint. chris Espedal, the NCSOS Safety and S.hool Climate Coordinator has already in-serviced staff and students at ChicaSo Park, with plans to have her back on an annual basis for on-going teacher training. lt is not the board's position to direct and fund an exercise such as this; it is an administrative duty.
R4:
'the Nevada Superintendent of Schools should iocrdinat. !.,':th distri.ts !nd -<chools to establish a standard of communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location. Disagree Communications durint an emergency between our front office and teachers is in place as stated in our local emergency procedures plan. Once teachers have been .ontacted by the office, a callto the NCSOS to make them aware of our emergency is protocol.
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan. Atree All classrooms at Chicago Park have inside door locks, appropriate shading, and evacuation routes listed by the entrance of the room. There is a camera system installed with 13 stratetically placed cameras around the aampus for security measures. Ai1 updoted comprehensive federal and local school safety plan was approved by our safety committee and school board in the spring of 2018. A quick reference guide which lists procedures for emerten.ies such as lockdowns, evacuation for wildfire, shelter in place, emertency phone numbers, etc., is readily accessible for teachers in their classrooms,
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource officers that encompass all of our schools. Neither Agree or Disagree CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL OISTRICT u.'is 15725 Mt, Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA95945 (530) 346-2153 Fax (530) 346-8559 Ilnfid When an officer's presence is needed on campus (which is not very often), our protocol is to contact Dispatch at the County Sheriffs Dept. and they send a deputy out. Sometimes it's a R€sourae Officer and sometimes it is not. Based on our distance frgm where our Resource officers are stationed, I am glad that our needs are not solely limited to the availability of a Resource Officer and a patrol car is sent instead.
R7:
The Nevada County Superintendent of School should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, porents and guordians, ond students in the development of a highly summorized porents' guide on whot to do ond not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contoin uniform instructions thot ore generic to oll schools. Additionally, each school should odd instructions that ore site specific to their school location and circumstances ond distribute to Response to Grand Jury Report, "Safety and Security at Nevada County Schools" of3 teochers, parents and guardions, ond high school students at the beginning of the yeor ond eoch semester thereofter. The development of a parent's guide would help to improve communication, alleviate fear, and assure parents that collaboration between responding agencies is in place and practiced. The recommendation requires further analysis, collaboration and discussion between agencies and school sites. Nevada County Superintendent of Schools does not have the authority to require school districts to participate in the development of such a guide but is willing to collaborate and provide resources as requested.
R8:
FollowinS the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise thls model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure evacuation. Agree chicago Park practices evacuation drills on a monthly basis. students are ngt excused from the drill until everyone is accounted for. A discussion at the following staff meeting ensues to assure we are operating in the safest, most efficient manner when .ondu.ting these drills, Evacuation routes are pgsted inside each classroom including the computer lab, art room, and tymnasium. A master key has been placed ln a lock box (at the request of law enforcement) at the chicago Park store so they would have immediate access to all buildings on campus upon arrival. coNctustoN We are very proactive at Chicago Park School when it comes to safety. We practice fire and earthquake drills as well as lockdowns and shelter in place. Our safety committee meets monthly and reviews oLrr local safety plan throughout the year. We have brought in Chief Bierwagen from the Chicago Park/Peardale fire department to help us develop a wildfire evacuation plan. We are constantly bringing updated safety policies to the Board to maintain a policy blnder that reflects the most current practices available to us. Oneofthemostvaluable tools for safety we have is Chris Espedal, our County School Safety and Climate Coordinator. She has provided a wealth of knowled8e to staff by conducting brief yet powerful traininBs in ALICE, and met with our K-3 and 4-8 students at assemblies to discuss safety not only at school, but at home and while in the community. I am grateful the Grand .lury has taken an active role in assessing the safety of our schools. Thank you, .r ,a', \LL-I-L - \.t Dan Zeisler Superintendent
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Additional Recommendations
8
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents' guide on what to do and not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter. Agree As our current plan does not include a parent guide, uniform instructions developed in conjunction with the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and law enforcement would provide beneficial information to our community members on what to do and what not to do in an emergency situation.
R2:
The Nevada County 5u perintendent of Schools shou ld coord inate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises. Agree The appropriate use of social media by parents and students during actual school emergencies should be addressed in the parents' guide referred to ln Rl.
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the "ALICE" CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt, Olive Road, GGss Valley, CA 95945 (s30) 346-21s3 Fax (530) 346-8ss9 DanEElEr-Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district's board should direct and fund the deployment and training of this exercise. Disagree The NCSOS already has developed a means to train teachers (and students) in uniform safety and security protocols that include "ALlCE" trainint. chris Espedal, the NCSOS Safety and S.hool Climate Coordinator has already in-serviced staff and students at ChicaSo Park, with plans to have her back on an annual basis for on-going teacher training. lt is not the board's position to direct and fund an exercise such as this; it is an administrative duty.
R4:
'the Nevada Superintendent of Schools should iocrdinat. !.,':th distri.ts !nd -<chools to establish a standard of communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location. Disagree Communications durint an emergency between our front office and teachers is in place as stated in our local emergency procedures plan. Once teachers have been .ontacted by the office, a callto the NCSOS to make them aware of our emergency is protocol.
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan. Atree All classrooms at Chicago Park have inside door locks, appropriate shading, and evacuation routes listed by the entrance of the room. There is a camera system installed with 13 stratetically placed cameras around the aampus for security measures. Ai1 updoted comprehensive federal and local school safety plan was approved by our safety committee and school board in the spring of 2018. A quick reference guide which lists procedures for emerten.ies such as lockdowns, evacuation for wildfire, shelter in place, emertency phone numbers, etc., is readily accessible for teachers in their classrooms,
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource officers that encompass all of our schools. Neither Agree or Disagree CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL OISTRICT u.'is 15725 Mt, Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA95945 (530) 346-2153 Fax (530) 346-8559 Ilnfid When an officer's presence is needed on campus (which is not very often), our protocol is to contact Dispatch at the County Sheriffs Dept. and they send a deputy out. Sometimes it's a R€sourae Officer and sometimes it is not. Based on our distance frgm where our Resource officers are stationed, I am glad that our needs are not solely limited to the availability of a Resource Officer and a patrol car is sent instead.
R7:
The Nevada County Superintendent of School should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, porents and guordians, ond students in the development of a highly summorized porents' guide on whot to do ond not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contoin uniform instructions thot ore generic to oll schools. Additionally, each school should odd instructions that ore site specific to their school location and circumstances ond distribute to Response to Grand Jury Report, "Safety and Security at Nevada County Schools" of3 teochers, parents and guardions, ond high school students at the beginning of the yeor ond eoch semester thereofter. The development of a parent's guide would help to improve communication, alleviate fear, and assure parents that collaboration between responding agencies is in place and practiced. The recommendation requires further analysis, collaboration and discussion between agencies and school sites. Nevada County Superintendent of Schools does not have the authority to require school districts to participate in the development of such a guide but is willing to collaborate and provide resources as requested.
R8:
FollowinS the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise thls model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure evacuation. Agree chicago Park practices evacuation drills on a monthly basis. students are ngt excused from the drill until everyone is accounted for. A discussion at the following staff meeting ensues to assure we are operating in the safest, most efficient manner when .ondu.ting these drills, Evacuation routes are pgsted inside each classroom including the computer lab, art room, and tymnasium. A master key has been placed ln a lock box (at the request of law enforcement) at the chicago Park store so they would have immediate access to all buildings on campus upon arrival. coNctustoN We are very proactive at Chicago Park School when it comes to safety. We practice fire and earthquake drills as well as lockdowns and shelter in place. Our safety committee meets monthly and reviews oLrr local safety plan throughout the year. We have brought in Chief Bierwagen from the Chicago Park/Peardale fire department to help us develop a wildfire evacuation plan. We are constantly bringing updated safety policies to the Board to maintain a policy blnder that reflects the most current practices available to us. Oneofthemostvaluable tools for safety we have is Chris Espedal, our County School Safety and Climate Coordinator. She has provided a wealth of knowled8e to staff by conducting brief yet powerful traininBs in ALICE, and met with our K-3 and 4-8 students at assemblies to discuss safety not only at school, but at home and while in the community. I am grateful the Grand .lury has taken an active role in assessing the safety of our schools. Thank you, .r ,a', \LL-I-L - \.t Dan Zeisler Superintendent
Additional Recommendations
8
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents' guide on what to do and not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter. Agree As our current plan does not include a parent guide, uniform instructions developed in conjunction with the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and law enforcement would provide beneficial information to our community members on what to do and what not to do in an emergency situation.
R2:
The Nevada County 5u perintendent of Schools shou ld coord inate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises. Agree The appropriate use of social media by parents and students during actual school emergencies should be addressed in the parents' guide referred to ln Rl.
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the "ALICE" CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt, Olive Road, GGss Valley, CA 95945 (s30) 346-21s3 Fax (530) 346-8ss9 DanEElEr-Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district's board should direct and fund the deployment and training of this exercise. Disagree The NCSOS already has developed a means to train teachers (and students) in uniform safety and security protocols that include "ALlCE" trainint. chris Espedal, the NCSOS Safety and S.hool Climate Coordinator has already in-serviced staff and students at ChicaSo Park, with plans to have her back on an annual basis for on-going teacher training. lt is not the board's position to direct and fund an exercise such as this; it is an administrative duty.
R4:
'the Nevada Superintendent of Schools should iocrdinat. !.,':th distri.ts !nd -<chools to establish a standard of communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location. Disagree Communications durint an emergency between our front office and teachers is in place as stated in our local emergency procedures plan. Once teachers have been .ontacted by the office, a callto the NCSOS to make them aware of our emergency is protocol.
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan. Atree All classrooms at Chicago Park have inside door locks, appropriate shading, and evacuation routes listed by the entrance of the room. There is a camera system installed with 13 stratetically placed cameras around the aampus for security measures. Ai1 updoted comprehensive federal and local school safety plan was approved by our safety committee and school board in the spring of 2018. A quick reference guide which lists procedures for emerten.ies such as lockdowns, evacuation for wildfire, shelter in place, emertency phone numbers, etc., is readily accessible for teachers in their classrooms,
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource officers that encompass all of our schools. Neither Agree or Disagree CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL OISTRICT u.'is 15725 Mt, Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA95945 (530) 346-2153 Fax (530) 346-8559 Ilnfid When an officer's presence is needed on campus (which is not very often), our protocol is to contact Dispatch at the County Sheriffs Dept. and they send a deputy out. Sometimes it's a R€sourae Officer and sometimes it is not. Based on our distance frgm where our Resource officers are stationed, I am glad that our needs are not solely limited to the availability of a Resource Officer and a patrol car is sent instead.
R7:
The Nevada County Superintendent of School should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, porents and guordians, ond students in the development of a highly summorized porents' guide on whot to do ond not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contoin uniform instructions thot ore generic to oll schools. Additionally, each school should odd instructions that ore site specific to their school location and circumstances ond distribute to Response to Grand Jury Report, "Safety and Security at Nevada County Schools" of3 teochers, parents and guardions, ond high school students at the beginning of the yeor ond eoch semester thereofter. The development of a parent's guide would help to improve communication, alleviate fear, and assure parents that collaboration between responding agencies is in place and practiced. The recommendation requires further analysis, collaboration and discussion between agencies and school sites. Nevada County Superintendent of Schools does not have the authority to require school districts to participate in the development of such a guide but is willing to collaborate and provide resources as requested.
R8:
FollowinS the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise thls model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure evacuation. Agree chicago Park practices evacuation drills on a monthly basis. students are ngt excused from the drill until everyone is accounted for. A discussion at the following staff meeting ensues to assure we are operating in the safest, most efficient manner when .ondu.ting these drills, Evacuation routes are pgsted inside each classroom including the computer lab, art room, and tymnasium. A master key has been placed ln a lock box (at the request of law enforcement) at the chicago Park store so they would have immediate access to all buildings on campus upon arrival. coNctustoN We are very proactive at Chicago Park School when it comes to safety. We practice fire and earthquake drills as well as lockdowns and shelter in place. Our safety committee meets monthly and reviews oLrr local safety plan throughout the year. We have brought in Chief Bierwagen from the Chicago Park/Peardale fire department to help us develop a wildfire evacuation plan. We are constantly bringing updated safety policies to the Board to maintain a policy blnder that reflects the most current practices available to us. Oneofthemostvaluable tools for safety we have is Chris Espedal, our County School Safety and Climate Coordinator. She has provided a wealth of knowled8e to staff by conducting brief yet powerful traininBs in ALICE, and met with our K-3 and 4-8 students at assemblies to discuss safety not only at school, but at home and while in the community. I am grateful the Grand .lury has taken an active role in assessing the safety of our schools. Thank you, .r ,a', \LL-I-L - \.t Dan Zeisler Superintendent
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Additional Recommendations
8
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents' guide on what to do and not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter. Agree As our current plan does not include a parent guide, uniform instructions developed in conjunction with the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and law enforcement would provide beneficial information to our community members on what to do and what not to do in an emergency situation.
R2:
The Nevada County 5u perintendent of Schools shou ld coord inate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises. Agree The appropriate use of social media by parents and students during actual school emergencies should be addressed in the parents' guide referred to ln Rl.
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the "ALICE" CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt, Olive Road, GGss Valley, CA 95945 (s30) 346-21s3 Fax (530) 346-8ss9 DanEElEr-Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district's board should direct and fund the deployment and training of this exercise. Disagree The NCSOS already has developed a means to train teachers (and students) in uniform safety and security protocols that include "ALlCE" trainint. chris Espedal, the NCSOS Safety and S.hool Climate Coordinator has already in-serviced staff and students at ChicaSo Park, with plans to have her back on an annual basis for on-going teacher training. lt is not the board's position to direct and fund an exercise such as this; it is an administrative duty.
R4:
'the Nevada Superintendent of Schools should iocrdinat. !.,':th distri.ts !nd -<chools to establish a standard of communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location. Disagree Communications durint an emergency between our front office and teachers is in place as stated in our local emergency procedures plan. Once teachers have been .ontacted by the office, a callto the NCSOS to make them aware of our emergency is protocol.
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan. Atree All classrooms at Chicago Park have inside door locks, appropriate shading, and evacuation routes listed by the entrance of the room. There is a camera system installed with 13 stratetically placed cameras around the aampus for security measures. Ai1 updoted comprehensive federal and local school safety plan was approved by our safety committee and school board in the spring of 2018. A quick reference guide which lists procedures for emerten.ies such as lockdowns, evacuation for wildfire, shelter in place, emertency phone numbers, etc., is readily accessible for teachers in their classrooms,
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource officers that encompass all of our schools. Neither Agree or Disagree CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL OISTRICT u.'is 15725 Mt, Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA95945 (530) 346-2153 Fax (530) 346-8559 Ilnfid When an officer's presence is needed on campus (which is not very often), our protocol is to contact Dispatch at the County Sheriffs Dept. and they send a deputy out. Sometimes it's a R€sourae Officer and sometimes it is not. Based on our distance frgm where our Resource officers are stationed, I am glad that our needs are not solely limited to the availability of a Resource Officer and a patrol car is sent instead.
R7:
The Nevada County Superintendent of School should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, porents and guordians, ond students in the development of a highly summorized porents' guide on whot to do ond not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contoin uniform instructions thot ore generic to oll schools. Additionally, each school should odd instructions that ore site specific to their school location and circumstances ond distribute to Response to Grand Jury Report, "Safety and Security at Nevada County Schools" of3 teochers, parents and guardions, ond high school students at the beginning of the yeor ond eoch semester thereofter. The development of a parent's guide would help to improve communication, alleviate fear, and assure parents that collaboration between responding agencies is in place and practiced. The recommendation requires further analysis, collaboration and discussion between agencies and school sites. Nevada County Superintendent of Schools does not have the authority to require school districts to participate in the development of such a guide but is willing to collaborate and provide resources as requested.
R8:
FollowinS the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise thls model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure evacuation. Agree chicago Park practices evacuation drills on a monthly basis. students are ngt excused from the drill until everyone is accounted for. A discussion at the following staff meeting ensues to assure we are operating in the safest, most efficient manner when .ondu.ting these drills, Evacuation routes are pgsted inside each classroom including the computer lab, art room, and tymnasium. A master key has been placed ln a lock box (at the request of law enforcement) at the chicago Park store so they would have immediate access to all buildings on campus upon arrival. coNctustoN We are very proactive at Chicago Park School when it comes to safety. We practice fire and earthquake drills as well as lockdowns and shelter in place. Our safety committee meets monthly and reviews oLrr local safety plan throughout the year. We have brought in Chief Bierwagen from the Chicago Park/Peardale fire department to help us develop a wildfire evacuation plan. We are constantly bringing updated safety policies to the Board to maintain a policy blnder that reflects the most current practices available to us. Oneofthemostvaluable tools for safety we have is Chris Espedal, our County School Safety and Climate Coordinator. She has provided a wealth of knowled8e to staff by conducting brief yet powerful traininBs in ALICE, and met with our K-3 and 4-8 students at assemblies to discuss safety not only at school, but at home and while in the community. I am grateful the Grand .lury has taken an active role in assessing the safety of our schools. Thank you, .r ,a', \LL-I-L - \.t Dan Zeisler Superintendent
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Additional Recommendations
8
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents' guide on what to do and not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter. Agree As our current plan does not include a parent guide, uniform instructions developed in conjunction with the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and law enforcement would provide beneficial information to our community members on what to do and what not to do in an emergency situation.
R2:
The Nevada County 5u perintendent of Schools shou ld coord inate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises. Agree The appropriate use of social media by parents and students during actual school emergencies should be addressed in the parents' guide referred to ln Rl.
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the "ALICE" CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt, Olive Road, GGss Valley, CA 95945 (s30) 346-21s3 Fax (530) 346-8ss9 DanEElEr-Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district's board should direct and fund the deployment and training of this exercise. Disagree The NCSOS already has developed a means to train teachers (and students) in uniform safety and security protocols that include "ALlCE" trainint. chris Espedal, the NCSOS Safety and S.hool Climate Coordinator has already in-serviced staff and students at ChicaSo Park, with plans to have her back on an annual basis for on-going teacher training. lt is not the board's position to direct and fund an exercise such as this; it is an administrative duty.
R4:
'the Nevada Superintendent of Schools should iocrdinat. !.,':th distri.ts !nd -<chools to establish a standard of communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location. Disagree Communications durint an emergency between our front office and teachers is in place as stated in our local emergency procedures plan. Once teachers have been .ontacted by the office, a callto the NCSOS to make them aware of our emergency is protocol.
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan. Atree All classrooms at Chicago Park have inside door locks, appropriate shading, and evacuation routes listed by the entrance of the room. There is a camera system installed with 13 stratetically placed cameras around the aampus for security measures. Ai1 updoted comprehensive federal and local school safety plan was approved by our safety committee and school board in the spring of 2018. A quick reference guide which lists procedures for emerten.ies such as lockdowns, evacuation for wildfire, shelter in place, emertency phone numbers, etc., is readily accessible for teachers in their classrooms,
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource officers that encompass all of our schools. Neither Agree or Disagree CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL OISTRICT u.'is 15725 Mt, Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA95945 (530) 346-2153 Fax (530) 346-8559 Ilnfid When an officer's presence is needed on campus (which is not very often), our protocol is to contact Dispatch at the County Sheriffs Dept. and they send a deputy out. Sometimes it's a R€sourae Officer and sometimes it is not. Based on our distance frgm where our Resource officers are stationed, I am glad that our needs are not solely limited to the availability of a Resource Officer and a patrol car is sent instead.
R7:
The Nevada County Superintendent of School should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, porents and guordians, ond students in the development of a highly summorized porents' guide on whot to do ond not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contoin uniform instructions thot ore generic to oll schools. Additionally, each school should odd instructions that ore site specific to their school location and circumstances ond distribute to Response to Grand Jury Report, "Safety and Security at Nevada County Schools" of3 teochers, parents and guardions, ond high school students at the beginning of the yeor ond eoch semester thereofter. The development of a parent's guide would help to improve communication, alleviate fear, and assure parents that collaboration between responding agencies is in place and practiced. The recommendation requires further analysis, collaboration and discussion between agencies and school sites. Nevada County Superintendent of Schools does not have the authority to require school districts to participate in the development of such a guide but is willing to collaborate and provide resources as requested.
R8:
FollowinS the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise thls model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure evacuation. Agree chicago Park practices evacuation drills on a monthly basis. students are ngt excused from the drill until everyone is accounted for. A discussion at the following staff meeting ensues to assure we are operating in the safest, most efficient manner when .ondu.ting these drills, Evacuation routes are pgsted inside each classroom including the computer lab, art room, and tymnasium. A master key has been placed ln a lock box (at the request of law enforcement) at the chicago Park store so they would have immediate access to all buildings on campus upon arrival. coNctustoN We are very proactive at Chicago Park School when it comes to safety. We practice fire and earthquake drills as well as lockdowns and shelter in place. Our safety committee meets monthly and reviews oLrr local safety plan throughout the year. We have brought in Chief Bierwagen from the Chicago Park/Peardale fire department to help us develop a wildfire evacuation plan. We are constantly bringing updated safety policies to the Board to maintain a policy blnder that reflects the most current practices available to us. Oneofthemostvaluable tools for safety we have is Chris Espedal, our County School Safety and Climate Coordinator. She has provided a wealth of knowled8e to staff by conducting brief yet powerful traininBs in ALICE, and met with our K-3 and 4-8 students at assemblies to discuss safety not only at school, but at home and while in the community. I am grateful the Grand .lury has taken an active role in assessing the safety of our schools. Thank you, .r ,a', \LL-I-L - \.t Dan Zeisler Superintendent
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Additional Recommendations
8
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents' guide on what to do and not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter. Agree As our current plan does not include a parent guide, uniform instructions developed in conjunction with the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools and law enforcement would provide beneficial information to our community members on what to do and what not to do in an emergency situation.
R2:
The Nevada County 5u perintendent of Schools shou ld coord inate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises. Agree The appropriate use of social media by parents and students during actual school emergencies should be addressed in the parents' guide referred to ln Rl.
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the "ALICE" CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt, Olive Road, GGss Valley, CA 95945 (s30) 346-21s3 Fax (530) 346-8ss9 DanEElEr-Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district's board should direct and fund the deployment and training of this exercise. Disagree The NCSOS already has developed a means to train teachers (and students) in uniform safety and security protocols that include "ALlCE" trainint. chris Espedal, the NCSOS Safety and S.hool Climate Coordinator has already in-serviced staff and students at ChicaSo Park, with plans to have her back on an annual basis for on-going teacher training. lt is not the board's position to direct and fund an exercise such as this; it is an administrative duty.
R4:
'the Nevada Superintendent of Schools should iocrdinat. !.,':th distri.ts !nd -<chools to establish a standard of communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location. Disagree Communications durint an emergency between our front office and teachers is in place as stated in our local emergency procedures plan. Once teachers have been .ontacted by the office, a callto the NCSOS to make them aware of our emergency is protocol.
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan. Atree All classrooms at Chicago Park have inside door locks, appropriate shading, and evacuation routes listed by the entrance of the room. There is a camera system installed with 13 stratetically placed cameras around the aampus for security measures. Ai1 updoted comprehensive federal and local school safety plan was approved by our safety committee and school board in the spring of 2018. A quick reference guide which lists procedures for emerten.ies such as lockdowns, evacuation for wildfire, shelter in place, emertency phone numbers, etc., is readily accessible for teachers in their classrooms,
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent ofSchools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource officers that encompass all of our schools. Neither Agree or Disagree CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL OISTRICT u.'is 15725 Mt, Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA95945 (530) 346-2153 Fax (530) 346-8559 Ilnfid When an officer's presence is needed on campus (which is not very often), our protocol is to contact Dispatch at the County Sheriffs Dept. and they send a deputy out. Sometimes it's a R€sourae Officer and sometimes it is not. Based on our distance frgm where our Resource officers are stationed, I am glad that our needs are not solely limited to the availability of a Resource Officer and a patrol car is sent instead.
R7:
The Nevada County Superintendent of School should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, porents and guordians, ond students in the development of a highly summorized porents' guide on whot to do ond not to do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contoin uniform instructions thot ore generic to oll schools. Additionally, each school should odd instructions that ore site specific to their school location and circumstances ond distribute to Response to Grand Jury Report, "Safety and Security at Nevada County Schools" of3 teochers, parents and guardions, ond high school students at the beginning of the yeor ond eoch semester thereofter. The development of a parent's guide would help to improve communication, alleviate fear, and assure parents that collaboration between responding agencies is in place and practiced. The recommendation requires further analysis, collaboration and discussion between agencies and school sites. Nevada County Superintendent of Schools does not have the authority to require school districts to participate in the development of such a guide but is willing to collaborate and provide resources as requested.
R8:
FollowinS the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise thls model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure evacuation. Agree chicago Park practices evacuation drills on a monthly basis. students are ngt excused from the drill until everyone is accounted for. A discussion at the following staff meeting ensues to assure we are operating in the safest, most efficient manner when .ondu.ting these drills, Evacuation routes are pgsted inside each classroom including the computer lab, art room, and tymnasium. A master key has been placed ln a lock box (at the request of law enforcement) at the chicago Park store so they would have immediate access to all buildings on campus upon arrival. coNctustoN We are very proactive at Chicago Park School when it comes to safety. We practice fire and earthquake drills as well as lockdowns and shelter in place. Our safety committee meets monthly and reviews oLrr local safety plan throughout the year. We have brought in Chief Bierwagen from the Chicago Park/Peardale fire department to help us develop a wildfire evacuation plan. We are constantly bringing updated safety policies to the Board to maintain a policy blnder that reflects the most current practices available to us. Oneofthemostvaluable tools for safety we have is Chris Espedal, our County School Safety and Climate Coordinator. She has provided a wealth of knowled8e to staff by conducting brief yet powerful traininBs in ALICE, and met with our K-3 and 4-8 students at assemblies to discuss safety not only at school, but at home and while in the community. I am grateful the Grand .lury has taken an active role in assessing the safety of our schools. Thank you, .r ,a', \LL-I-L - \.t Dan Zeisler Superintendent
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools have a negative Net Position. Agree. However, TFPD does not have a negative Net Position.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance pension contribution increases. 10049 Donner Pass Road . Post oIlice Box2T68. Truckee, california 96160 . (530) 582-7gso . FAx (s30) sg2-78s4
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially agree. lt is possible some agencies will spend down their reserves in order to avoid cutting back their services.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction of reserves. Partially agree. lt is possible some agencies will look for new sources of income to avoid spending down their reserves so they can avoid service cutbacks.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially agree. CaIPERS and CaISTRS employees bear a good amount of risk as well. lf the investments underperform, CaIPERS can increase the employees'contribution percentage to cover the shortfalls.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Government Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 2075-2016. Agree
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts'financial statements should reflect their Net Pension Liability. Agree 63
Additional Recommendations
3
Not linked to specific findings.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. The recommendation is being implemented. PEPRA employees, those who became members of CaIPERS after Janua ry 7.,20t3, pay approximately half of their pension contribution toward CaIPERS. The District does not pay the employees' share for the PEPRA employees. The majority of the PVFPD staff pay their own pension contributions and this portion will only increase as more employees are hired and subject to PEPRA rules.
R3:
For the purposes of transparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. The recommendation will be implemented. The PVFPD website has been updated to include three years of audited financial statements. The links to these documents can be found in the Board of Directors section of the website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. The recommendation will be implemented to the extent applicable. As previously stated, the PVFPD has the most conservative CaIPERS contribution plan offered. ln addition, approximately 8.6% of the General Fund was spent on pension liabilities for Fiscal Year 2OL7-18. This is well below the LL.Z% cited in the report from the League of California Cities. Starting with Fiscal Year 2018-20L9, CaIPERS reduced the payback time period for unfunded liabilities for all agencies. This accelerated payback will reduce long term costs. !n the future the PVFPD may consider a ballot measure to help alleviate increasing pension and other direct operating costs. At this time the timing is unknown for such an event. 3 64 Tmckee Fire Protection District Board of Directors Proudlg prouiding seruice to portiors of both Neuada anL Gary R. Botto Victor R. Hernandez Placer Counties andthe Toun of Truckee Gerald W. Henick Erin E. Prado Paul D.ltilford €ue* Fire Chief tr4tilliam G. Seline Division Chiefs Craig A. Ilarvey August 21,2018 / Rod A. Brock { The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 RE: Required Responses to the 2017-2018 Nevada County Grand Jury Report Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson, The Truckee Fire Protection District Board of Directors and Administration has reviewed the 2017-2018 Nevada County Grand Jury report and has prepared the following required responses.
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Quick View
Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Quick View
Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Quick View
Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Quick View
Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
Quick View
Full Details →
Additional Recommendations
3
Not linked to specific findings.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. Parcially Agree - The recommendation is being researched presently Our retirement policy mimics that of Nevada County's. The District plans to research pension options and add greater personal retirement participation for (new) employees.
R3:
For the purposes of transparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Agree - The recommendation has been implemented Our audited financial statements for years 1999 through 2Ol7 and summary pension data reports for 20 l5 and 2Ol7 have been uploaded to our website. The summary pension data report for 2Ol8 will be uploaded to our website when it is received. 80
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. Dlsagree - The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time The District maintains a secure funding stream and is not confronted with city-size issues and funding. Our district is too small and has too few employees to make implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities feasible. We do, however, receive Annual Unfunded Accrued Liability invoices from CaIPERS and pay them when received. Nevada County Resource Conservation District Board of Directors Robert G. lngram, President l,2Ol8 luly 1 81 Truchee Cemetery Dlstrlct P.O. Box 2803 Truchee, Callfornla 96160 (s30) s87-6s53 ttU,f& 1"9 {tb{ November L,2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church St. Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Sir: ln response to the recommendation R3 in the Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled "Willthe Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities" the Truckee Cemetery District will implement the recommendation by posting the last 3 years' audited financial statements on the District website :*try.W*t{SiiiqereLt-tqgefyd"ts<L;qI. The District maintains no pension plan. Sincerely, Tricia Cook, Secretary Truckee Cemetery District Board of Trustees 82 TRucxee Tenoe Arnponr Dlsrntcr DrRecrons 10356 Truckee Airport Rd. LISAWALLACE Truckee, CA 96161 TERESA O'DETTE (530)5874119 tel JOHN JONES RUCKEE (530) 587-2984 fax AHOE JAMES W. MORRISON IRPORT www.TRucKEETAHoeAr RpoRr.coM RICK STEPHENS fua August 28,2018 Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Re: Response to June 11,2018 Grand Jury Report (Unfunded Pension Liabilities) Dear Judge Anderson: Pursuant to the 2017 -18 Grand Jury Report regarding unfunded liabilities, this District was requested to respond to recommendations R2 and R4. our responses are below:
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability. Agree
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability. Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Annual required contributions (ARC) set by CaIPERS are intended to pay down the Net Pension Liability over a period of time. The County has always met the ARC and expects to do so in the future.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position. Disagree. Responding only for the County of Nevada agencies. The County's total net position as of June 30,2017 was positive $270 million.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter schools Net Pension Liability. Agree.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contributions increases. Partially Disagree. The County of Nevada takes this matter very seriously and has taken numerous proactive measures to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs and manage Net Pension Liability impacts. The County maximizes revenue opportunities and has accumulated fund balance to help address rising pension costs. If the economy and revenues drop significantly for a sustained period of time, or there are additional changes from CaIPERS requiring higher contributions than are currently known, there may be impacts to services.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. Nevada County has a budget policy, which states that the "budget will only use reserve funds for emergency and one-time expenditures or for purposes that the reserve is designated to fund. Every effort will be used to preserve funds." This policy has been in place since just after the Great Recession and has led to the County generally maintaining or building reserves in recent years. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Fund Balance Policy, which guides decisions on use of fund balances, generally for emergencies or economic uncertainties or targeted priority expenditures. Every economic downturn causes the consideration of spending reserves to avoid cutbacks in services. This finding is not specific to the pension liability issue.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction ofreserves. Agree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada agencies continuously seek new sources of revenue to fund services. Most of these revenues are from State and Federal sources for specific programs.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CaIPERS and CaISTRS investments continue to underperform. Partially Disagree. Responding only for County of Nevada agencies. The County of Nevada is unable to respond to this finding as we have no way of knowing how CaIPERS and CaISTRS 5 will mitigate the risk of underperforming investments or how much risk will be passed on and to whom. B. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS Rl: The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County's curent Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted. The County Executive Office already reports specifically on the Net Pension Liability issue multiple times during the year. It is presented in depth during the budget hearings, at the Board of Supervisors Annual Workshop and throughout the year as Board actions are recommended by the County Executive Office. Pension costs have been highlighted in the last twelve budget messages delivered by the CEO and CFO.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Govemment Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 201 5-2016. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of this fact and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts' financial statements should reflect their Net pension Liability. Agree. However, we would like to note that we have no independent knowledge of the laws applicable to Nevada City School of the Arts and are relying entirely on the Grand Jury's report as to this finding.
Additional Recommendations
7
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. Employee pension contributions are determined by the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). County staff currently share in pension contributions by the amount specified in the PEPRA.
R3:
For the purposes oftransparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website. Bitney Prep High School has contracted with a professional to add a financial page to its public website and include a link to the Audits for the last three years which are currently posted on the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. This recommendation will be implemented in part. In reviewing the six stated suggestions from the League of California Cities, the County responds with the following: 1. The recommendation has been partially implemented. The County has funded an irrevocable trust to assist in paying increased pension costsl the County maintains a Pension Contributions assignment in the General Fund to prioritize pension stability; the County pre-pays the Safety UAL; in FY 18/19 the County will consider a Pension Management Policy to provide further direction on managing the pension liability. 2. The recommendation will not be implemented. The foreseeable situation does not warrant the County seeking additional taxes to fund the pension liability. 6 3. The recommendation has been implemented. The County participates in the PARS Section 115 Pension Trust program. 4. The recommendation has been implemented. The County's budget policies require departments and programs to streamline resources where needed in an effort to provide the same level of service each year; streamlining has included major department restructuring and consolidation and investment in technology. The County also contracts with community based service providers where possible to maximize service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness. 5. The recommendation has been implemented. Employee organizations contribute their full share of employee contribution costs to the annual required contributions. The recommendation will not be implemented. The County will not issue Pension Obligation Bonds. The League of Cities report referenced recommends uguinst issuing pension obligation bonds. Council Members GRASS VALLEY CITY COUNCIL Howard Levine, Mayor '125 East Main St., Grass Valley, CA 95945 Lisa Swarthout, Vice Mayor Tim Kiser, City Manager Jan Arbuckle Kristi Bashor, City Clerk Jason Fouyer Ben Aguilar Iuly 24,2018 ,4 ?J The Honorable Thomas Anderson t'/&/t l\} t; Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 5 - rlqs l(> 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 ffi{) Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson - The following is the City of Grass Valley's (City) response to the 2017-2018 Grand Jury Report - Will the Public Su.ffer Because o.f Ury/unded Pension Liabilities. The City appreciates the Grand Jury's interest in helping to ensure the City's ability to continue providing uninterrupted high levels of service in the wake of increasing pension liability payments by employers countywide. The City has taken a proactive approach to mitigating the potential impacts of increasing pension payments, particularly as they relate to the annual amorlization payment for the City's unfunded pension liability. As demonstrated in the responses to the report's recommendations noted below, the City remains steadfast in maintaining high levels of service while assuring promised current and future pension benefits due its employees remain intact. The following are our response to the two recommendations noted in the repoft:
R5:
Nevodo County Superintendent of Schoots should report the Net Pension Liabitity for chorter schools thot ore port of its ogency's oudit. Because the charters schools that report under the NCSoS financials are considered to be part of the organization for audit purposes, the cost to split out each LEA's portion of the unfunded liability may not be practical. The Net Pension Liability that is reported under the NCSoS annual audit does include each charter schools portion. We will explore the possibility of projecting and reporting each agencies portion of the liability r"pu.ut.ly with our external auditor. Once again, I would like to thank the Grand Jury for looking into this issue that has the potential for dire consequences to our local schools. My office, alongside the professional organizations we belong to, will continue to voice our concern and lobby our elected officials to pay down this unfunded liability at the state level where it originated. The Governor and the Legislature need to look at the budget surplus as one potential source to help pay off the debt. Sierra Montessori Academy Sierra Monlessori Academy shall not discriminate agqinst any individual in admission, the administration of programs or employment on the basis ofrace, religion' color, ethnicity. gender, natiinal origin or sexual orientation or any other basis proii'brteZ byfederal or state law. 44 45 Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School 111 New Mohawk Road Nevada City, CA 95959 (s30) 478-181s www.trhs.us September 6,2018 {l /. !,;.\, a/r p The Honorable Thomas Anderson J il \. \-r' l / |I l - - LOf:-*- / - Jury - Souuppeerrvvrissirnngg JJuudoggee ooTf trhnee Gurraannod Jury , I I churchstreet qillillt L \/, 201 NevadaCity,CAgs9s9 l!'tl'"--, t ,' 1 ' i'q, ,'ill / ! { (-' , Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson The following is the required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?". o Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School for Recommendations R3, R4, and R6 by 9 September 2018. As required by Penal Code Section 933.05, the Twin Ridges Home Study Charter School response in regard to Recommendations is as follows: RECOMMENDATIONS:
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency's audit. We were not able to separate out the NPL for each agency. In our response to the report we indicated that this may not be an option due to the excessive amount of time and cost involved in having this calculation performed. Once again I apologize for the delay in this response and hope that our responses meet the need of the Grand Jury. '-r- Bitney Prep High School Director Bitney Prep High School- A BIG PICTURE LEARNING SCHOOL. Joerschke Dr. , Grass Valley. CA 95945 530.477. ll35 bitneyprep.net 18 CHICAGO PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT 15725 Mt. Olive Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945 '1\- - (s30) 346-2153 Fax (s30) 346-8ss9 n.rz6 Dan Zeisler, Superintendent Katie Kohler, Principal '1U,tf-uQt July 16, 2018 ?D/r4/n( The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury 201 Church Street Nevada City, CA 95959 Dear Honorable Thomas Anderson: Schools across the state have taken on the burden of a multi-billion dollar shortfall in CaISTRS and CaIPERS. As a result, school districts are enduringsignificant increases in employee benefit contributions that far exceed cost of living adjustments allocated by the state. This is jeopardizing the quality of education (extra-curricular studies, small class sizes, etc.). With declining enrollment and teacher demands for salary incredses to offset their personal increased personal retirement contributions, we have some very challenging years ahead of us. Throw in the inevitable recession, and it will be very difficult to sustain a budget that is not qualified by the county. Here is the requested response from the Chicago Park School District regarding "U nfu nd ed P e nsion Lia bi Iiti es :" RECOMMENDATIONS:
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts shoulci report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements. The recommendation will not be implemented at the present time but will be implemented in the future. As mentioned above, because Nevada City School of the Arts audits its financial statements as a non-profit organization, the School has not determined a possible net pension liability. In the School's next audit report, there will be an added disclosure footnote that will include the calculated amount of any net pension liability. NUvada City School of the Arts 35 (fi,r,,7r'4. ,''<'t-b b,,,gT .[lrt- .[uly 30, 2018 The Honorable Thomas Anderson Supervising Judge of the Grand Jury Counry of Nevada 20L Church Street Nevada ciry, cA 95959 RE: ''Wili Re spoi-.se io Gr-aild iury R.eport: the Pubirc Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" Recommendations #2, 3, and 4. 'u1Jer Dear Honorable Judge Anderson: The following is the Nevada Joint Union High School District's statutorily required response to the 2017-18 Nevada County Grand Jury report entitled, "Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities?" The district appreciates the opportunity to provide information and perspective on an issue of significant concern to this and all other local education agencies (LEAs) in Nevada County.
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Full Details →
Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
Nearly every Nevada County agency has a Net Pension Liability.
F2:
Many Nevada County agencies, especially schools, lack a sufficient Net Position to successfully comply with the requirement to reduce their Net Pension Liability.
F3:
Some Nevada County agencies, especially schools, have a negative Net Position.
F4:
Transparency demands that financial statements provided by the office of the Superintendent of Schools identify each charter school’s Net Pension Liability.
F5:
The strain on Nevada County agency budgets is likely to require cutbacks in services to balance the pension contribution increases.
F6:
Many agencies may spend down their reserves to avoid cutbacks in services.
F7:
New sources of revenue may be requested by many agencies to avoid cutbacks in services or reduction of reserves.
F8:
The public bears most of the risk if CalPERS and CalSTRS investments continue to underperform.
F9:
Higgins Fire Protection District is out of compliance with Government Code 26909 by not filing an audited financial statement for 2015-2016.
F10:
Nevada City School of the Arts’ financial statements should reflect their Net Pension Liability.
Additional Recommendations
11
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The Nevada County Chief Executive Officer should provide a separate presentation to the Board of Supervisors describing the County’s current Net Pension Liability and providing a plan for addressing the problem. The presentation should not be hidden in the annual budget report presentation.
R2:
Public agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities.
R3:
For the purposes of transparency and easy access, each agency should provide links to three years of audited financial statements and summary pension data for the same period on the financial page of its public website.
R4:
Public agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities.
R5:
Higgins Fire Protection District should comply with Government Code 26909 and file an audited financial statement for 2015-2016.
R6:
Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should report the Net Pension Liability for charter schools that are part of its agency’s audit.
R7:
Nevada City School of the Arts should report its Net Pension Liability in its financial statements.
R8:
Consider local ballot measures to enhance revenues: a. Some cities have been successful in passing a measure to increase revenues. Others have been unsuccessful. Given that these are voter approved measures, success varies depending on location.
R9:
Create a Pension Rate Stabilization Program (PRSP): a. Establishing and funding a local Section 115 Trust Fund can help offset unanticipated spikes in employer contributions. Initial funds still must be identified. Again, this is an option that may work for cities that are in a better financial condition.
R10:
Change service delivery methods and levels of certain public services: a. Many cities have already consolidated and cut local services during the Great Recession and have not been able to restore those service levels. Often, revenue growth from the improved economy has been absorbed by pension costs. The next round of service cuts will be even harder.
R11:
Use procedures and transparent bargaining to increase employee pension contributions: a. Many local agencies and their employee organizations have already entered into such agreements.
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Findings & Recommendations
3 findings
F1:
The written policies and procedures of the Sheriff’s Office concerning the Inmate Welfare Fund are not being followed.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1:
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office should comply with the regulations that it has established for the administration of the Inmate Welfare Fund at the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility.
F2:
The County continues to spend upwards of $2,000,000 on Juvenile Hall that could be saved by placing juvenile detainees in juvenile halls in other counties.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2:
Alternatively, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office should draft new regulations that describe procedures that actually are being followed in connection with the administration of the Inmate Welfare Fund.
F3:
The air quality in the administrative and holding cell area at the Nevada County Courthouse Holding Facility in Nevada City is poor.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3:
The Nevada County Board of Supervisors should undertake an urgent review of alternatives to the current use of Juvenile Hall to explore more cost-effective uses of the facility and to explore the placement of Nevada County juvenile detainees in juvenile halls in neighboring counties.
Additional Recommendations
1
Not linked to specific findings.
R4:
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and the Nevada County Board of Supervisors should cause tests to be done of the air quality in the Nevada County Courthouse Holding Facility in Nevada City to insure that it is safe.
Findings & Recommendations
9 findings
F1:
With the recent school shootings, it is apparent that parents and guardians, school administrators and staff, law enforcement, and virtually all of the general public are shocked, angry, and dismayed. However, the attention and focus here and across the nation has waned following each and every tragedy and we have made little progress.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students in the development of a highly summarized parents’ guide on what to do and not do when a lockdown or other emergency happens. This guide should contain uniform instructions that are generic to all schools. Additionally, each school should add instructions that are site specific to their school location and circumstances and distribute to teachers, parents and guardians, and high school students at the beginning of the year and each semester thereafter.
F2:
Effective communication between schools and parents, guardians, and students appears to vary widely among schools. There is limited communication about emergency procedures that involves and informs the parents or guardians and includes older students.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with school districts, law enforcement, parents and guardians, and students to develop a uniform, workable plan that responds to the appropriate use of social media during actual emergencies and drill exercises.
F3:
During a recent actual lockdown response activity several reports indicated substantial confusion between all parties involved, thus creating overreaction, rumors, and some degree of panic that tied up the school phone systems. The difficulty in controlling social media was cited as the chief reason this occurred.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should develop the means to train teachers in uniform safety and security protocols and include the exercise and use of the “ALICE” standard in each of the schools. Additionally, each school district’s board should direct and fund the deployment of this training and exercise.
F4:
The schools visited by the Jury have safety and security plans, emergency response modes, and some level of perimeter surveillance. They exercise their plans on a regular schedule but some are not always fully engaged.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools should coordinate with districts and schools to establish a standard means of secure communication between the front office and the teachers, regardless of their location.
F5:
In most schools, emergency secure communication is somewhat lacking or does not exist between front office and teacher.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5:
Each district and school should conduct a thorough physical evaluation of classroom security and visibility including inside door locks, appropriate shading, and camera systems. Each school should be required to be in conformance with the physical demands and characteristics of a comprehensive school safety plan.
F6:
Some very good efforts have been made to secure classrooms. However, not all classrooms have inside locks or window coverings to prevent observation from the outside. Camera systems are not always present or are inconsistent.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6:
The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, school districts, and local law enforcement should collaborate on the use and deployment of Resource Officers that encompass all of our schools.
F7:
Resource Officers are minimal, part time, or non-existent in our schools. Emphasis is placed on the two principal high schools where sworn officers are present.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7:
A working group of the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, the Grass Valley Police Department, the Nevada City Police Department, Nevada County Behavioral Health (especially concerning behavior of the assailant), and school administration and staff should be created to develop a model program for all schools to utilize when examining and creating their own outside assembly and accounting program.
F8:
Teacher training on safety and security is mostly confined to “scheduled collaboration” sessions as part of imparting weekly notices, alerts, and business topics. This does not provide enough opportunity to thoroughly instruct the teachers on responsibilities, alternatives, and appropriate methods of dealing with an extreme emergency.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8:
Following the creation of a model program for outside assembly and accounting, each school district should direct their schools to exercise this model and, in conjunction with local law enforcement, develop and incorporate the site-specific procedures necessary to conduct a safe and secure school evacuation.
F9:
Evacuation alarms result in teachers assembling the students outside of the school building in locations that are potentially exposed to possible danger.
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Findings & Recommendations
4 findings
F1:
The sally port at the Truckee Jail increases safety for the public during the transfer of prisoners from secure vehicles into the secure jail.
F2:
The absence of a sally port at the Truckee Courthouse increases the risk to the public, law enforcement, and the prisoners at this location during the transfer of prisoners from secure vehicles into the secure courthouse.
F3:
The absence of a sally port at the Truckee Courthouse, in immediate proximity to a public parking area, County offices, and the Truckee Library, creates an increased risk to the public, law enforcement, and the prisoners at this location. 2018-2019 Nevada County Grand Jury Final Report 30
F4:
The addition of a sally port to the prisoner entrance at the Truckee Courthouse would increase safety for the public, prisoners, and citizens of Truckee.
Additional Recommendations
2
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
Request funding from Nevada County Board of Supervisors to install a sally port at the Truckee Courthouse. The Nevada County Board of Supervisors should:
R2:
Provide funding to install a sally port at the prisoner entrance to the Truckee Courthouse.
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Findings & Recommendations
4 findings
F1:
The sally port at the Truckee Jail increases safety for the public during the transfer of prisoners from secure vehicles into the secure jail.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1:
Request funding from Nevada County Board of Supervisors to install a sally port at the Truckee Courthouse. The Nevada County Board of Supervisors should:
F2:
The absence of a sally port at the Truckee Courthouse increases the risk to the public, law enforcement, and the prisoners at this location during the transfer of prisoners from secure vehicles into the secure courthouse.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2:
Provide funding to install a sally port at the prisoner entrance to the Truckee Courthouse. Request for Responses Pursuant to Penal Code section 933.05, the Nevada County Civil Grand Jury requests responses as follows: From the following: Nevada County Sheriff’s Office (R1) by 7 April 2018. Nevada County Board of Supervisors (R2) by 7 May 2018.
F3:
The absence of a sally port at the Truckee Courthouse, in immediate proximity to a public parking area, County offices, and the Truckee Library, creates an increased risk to the public, law enforcement, and the prisoners at this location.
F4:
The addition of a sally port to the prisoner entrance at the Truckee Courthouse would increase safety for the public, prisoners, and citizens of Truckee. Recommendations The Nevada County Grand Jury recommends that the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and the Nevada County Board of Supervisors implement the following recommendations. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office should: