Will the Public Suffer Because of Unfunded Pension Liabilities issued by the 2017-2018

Recommendations 7

• R1

  Page 26
  Develop and implement a plan to pay down the city's Net Pension Liability (NPL).
• R2

  Page 17
  Public Agencies and public employee unions should explore how increasing employee pension contributions can reduce non-funded pension liabilities. The recommendation has been implemented and included in all Town negotiations with the Town's three employee associations over the last twelve years. The Town has actively and routinely worked with its employee associations to address the effects of the retirement cost increases related to the CaIPERS defined benefit pension plan. The prior two employment contracts transitioned the Town's employees from paying none of the "employee" cost of CaIPERS to paying all of the employee costs for the retirement benefit for all employee groups. The Town has also just completed negotiations with two of the three employee groups (one group has not been completed yet) for five year memorandums of understanding ("MOU'). Those completed MOU's consciously addressed the ever-increasing cost of pensions by focusing on increases in employee compensation that are not eligible for (or required to have) a CaIPERS contribution. Examples of this include increased Town contributions to health insurance premiums for employees, and increased contributions to employee deferred compensation, which are not subject to CaIPERS contributions, rather than inflation-related salary increases that do increase the Town's CaIPERS obligations.
• R3

  Page 21
  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

  Page 17
  Public Agencies should consider implementing the suggestions from the League of California Cities. 10183 Truckee Airport Road, Truckee, CA 96161-3306 www.townoftruckee.com 530-582-7700 | email : truckee @ townoftruckee.com Printed on recycled paper. Grand Jury Letter July 20,2018 While the Town appreciates the League's suggestions, the Town has taken actions to minimize its pension liability without affecting services to its constituents or adding taxes. Although the Town declines to implement the League's suggestions, the Town has considered those suggestions and has therefore implemented recommendation
• R5

  Page 47
  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. 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

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  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 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

  Page 30
  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 (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.