So THAT'S where our city tax dollars go? City of Hallandale Beach Check Register for July 2011; Comm. Sanders: the cipher with a sense of entitlement

Above, Hallandale Beach City Hall Complex at night, photo of August 7, 2011 by South Beach Hoosier.

Yesterday, I was one of many people in this small S.E. Broward community that received the helpful bit of information below from Hallandale Beach Comm. Keith London concerning where some of our tax dollars are actually going.

It's public information that belongs to you, so take advantage and take a look.

Speaking of public accountability of your tax dollars, do you remember the last time you received an email from Comm. Anthony A. Sanders or Comm. Dorothy "Dotty" Ross with information that you personally found useful or interesting about some aspect of local government or public policy, something that was not just promoting a charity event?

Or the last time Sanders or Ross hosted a public city-wide meeting for HB citizens to ask questions of them, their performance and speak freely about the problems and future of this community?

Actually, that was a rhetorical question.

Nobody remembers such a thing because it's NEVER happened before, and we all know that it won't suddenly be happening before next year's election in November, assuming they both haven't already been recalled from office by then, with me perhaps having more than a little to do with that scenario.

(Ross isn't running for re-election next year but Sanders is, and the latter is clearly counting on President Obama's name further up on the ballot being enough to help him, as it did in 2008, since he has done nothing worthwhile since being appointed to the Commission exactly three years ago this week.

Sanders is a cipher, albeit a cipher with an oversized sense of entitlement and who is quick to take offense at even the slightest hint of criticism.

Simply put, Sanders believes he is above criticism.

He's not!)

This is hardly surprising given their own very disconnected sense of reality and threadbare connection to the community -especially Comm. Sanders perpetually acting like he only represents Northwest Hallandale Beach, when he's supposed to represent the ENTIRE city- since their own behavior and words on the dais make clear that they haven't and won't ever be asking critical questions about city spending on agenda items.

Well, except in Sanders' case, to want to spend MORE.

That's why the two remain members in good standing -along with Comm. Alexander Lewy- of mayor Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew.

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"

Clearly, that's no way to run a city government in the 21st Century, but it's exactly what we have here in Hallandale Beach in the year 2011 under Joy Cooper, the head of the Florida League of Cities.

That has got to change ASAP.

As to that maxim "If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem," let me be clear: It's time to choose sides.

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Everyone,

Attached please find the City of Hallandale Beach Check Register for the month of July 2011 for your review.

Due to the public’s request for additional information and increased transparency, I have made arrangements with the City Manager for this additional information to be made accessible for the public to review. Please note this information will only be available for review for 30 days or the one month period subsequent to the date of the check registry. After 30 days the information will be filed away and if you require additional information you will have to submit a public records request.

If you would like to review additional backup information pertaining to a specific check, you may go to the City ofHallandale Beach Finance Department and request to review the information. Please contact Patricia Ladolcetta, Director of Finance, at 954-457-1371 to review the information.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require additional information.

Regards,

Keith

Keith S. London

City Commissioner

Hallandale Beach

954-457-1320 Office

www.KeithLondon.com

http://www.facebook.com/KeithSLondon

Monthly Check Report July 2011.xls 55K View Open as a Google spreadsheet Download

Joy Cooper, the FL mayor who called citizens of her own city opposed to her policies, "Nazis," is quoted in PB Post story on govt. civility

Joy Cooper, the Hallandale Beach mayor and current Florida League of Cities President, who called concerned citizens of her own city opposed to her public policies "Nazis," is quoted in a Monday Palm Beach Post story on civility in Florida municipal government.

As I have written here numerous times, over two years ago, up on the 2nd Floor at Hallandale Beach City Hall, Mayor Cooper, in speaking with then-Comm. William Julian just moments before the continuation of a City Commission meeting referred to me and other HB citizens opposed to her disastrous policies as "Nazis," and seconds later, referred to Comm. Keith London, a frequent opponent on the dais, as "a Hitler."

I bring this to your attention because it's a perfect example of how little the news media in South Florida really knows its elected officials and their behavior, and because there are many people within this city who have also been maliciously maligned by her and other city commissioners and officials at public meetings and forums, as well as had their opportunity to speak at public meetings squelched, or threatened with arrest for recording the proceedings at a public meeting.


Palm Beach Post
Are not!! Am too!! -- Cities aim for civility in civil discourse
By Andrew Abramson
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 7:47 p.m. Sunday, May 1, 2011
Posted: 4:30 p.m. Sunday, May 1, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — At Lois Frankel's final city commission meeting in March, the former mayor cut off the microphone while a resident blasted commission candidate Keith James, who was up for election in a runoff the following day.

Frankel and City Attorney Claudia McKenna pointed to the city's civility code, as they often did at heated meetings. It says that "all remarks shall be addressed to the commission as a body and not to any one member or to the audience."

The city commission voted to reaffirm that rule April 18. And it's not alone in trying to re-instill civility in public meetings.

Read the rest of the post:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/are-not-am-too-cities-aim-for-civility-1447015.html

Scott Wyman in Broward Politics blog: Red-light camera accident data & behavior in Fort Lauderdale comes under new scrutiny as car accidents INCREASED

Above, a photo I snapped of the red-light camera Warning sign on the north-side of west-bound Hallandale Beach Blvd. at NE 9th Terrace in Hallandale Beach, February 27th, 2011, a bit past sundown. The only reason you see it is because I'm standing on the curb, using my flash.

Below this three-hour old blog post from the Sun-Sentinel's Scott Wyman is a link from the Google Alert on Hallandale Beach I received yesterday to the most recent gullible newspaper that Mayor Cooper was able to peddle her self-serving Florida League of Cities red-light camera talking points to.

Yes, another newspaper that has no idea how truly mendacious she was last year in twisting the true facts on this subject here in Hallandale Beach, when her desire for money could hardly have been more appallingly obvious.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/apr/04/joy-cooper-florida-lives-depend-on-red-light/

Last Friday, it was the Miami Herald's turn to play the part of the stooge.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/01/2145934/red-light-cameras-save-lives.html

Make sure you read the reader comments!

By the way, the red-light camera WARNING sign on west-bound Hallandale Beach Blvd. -two blocks east of 1-95- is STILL almost completely hidden to passing traffic, hidden as it is behind the two trees it was placed between.
The sign that also ISN'T near a street light.

I was there again last night, and it was as ridiculous as ever.
But then they already knew the sign was hard to see even before it went operational on March 1st.

On this issue in HB, as with so many, self-evident facts don't really seem to matter much, do they?

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Politics blog
Fort Lauderdale accident data cast cloud over reliance on red-light cameras
By Scott Wyman
April 5, 2011 07:13 PM

The use of cameras to catch red-light runners may not be as effective at improving traffic safety as expected, according to an early review of accident data by the city.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department told city commissioners Tuesday that accidents increased in the last four months at two of the six intersections with cameras, compared to the same time a year ago. Collisions declined at three and remain the same at the sixth.

Read the rest of the post at: http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/04/fort_lauderdale_accident_data.html

Once again, thru his words & misdeeds, Alexander Lewy is proving that he is EXACTLY who we always thought he was -a career politician in training

Folks, I warned you last year!
Above, Alexander Lewy and his campaign sign at the entrance of the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, i.e. taxpayer property, 2010.
IF it was legal to put campaign signs there on city property, within the Supervisor of Elections' no campaign sign zone, in front of the building where Early Voting and voting takes place, where I vote, isn't it reasonable to assume that at least one of the dozens of other candidates on the ballot last year might've thought to do it, too? But they don't because it's not allowed.
And putting your campaign sign there and on other parts of city hall property, daring someone to complain about it, doesn't make it legal either.
Yet another example of the HB Code Compliance ignoring what's right in front of them -per usual. And Lewy ignoring the rules that everyone else has to abide by.
2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.


Once again, thru his words & misdeeds, Alexander Lewy is proving that he is EXACTLY who we always thought he was -a career politician in training

We in this ocean-side city between Aventura and Hollywood are merely his humble political stepping stool.
But it seems to me that Alexander Lewy's already stumbling badly from the start...

In the Google Alert I received Monday night, while I was watching the always amusing Castle on TV, I discovered a story in the Miami Herald, below, that I missed seeing, and it mentions Hallandale Beach Commissioner Alexander Lewy.
So imagine my surprise to see him quoted about a story in Tallahassee about bologna... I mean legislation being crafted.

You probably won't be too surprised to discover that once again, Alexander Lewy, the person who in the past:
a.) supported the Diplomat LAC over the community's objections, which is part of why he got campaign money from the Diplomat's law firm,
b.) the person who currently supports the mayor's absurd and un-safe two-way streets proposal for NE 8th & 10th Avenues, even recently telling a resident against it that THEY had "their facts all wrong" but couldn't say why he supported it,
c.) the person who has supported the expansion of the city's Red-Light Camera$ operation, and, d.) the person who has said in the past that he supports the Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School being placed in that largely single-family NE neighborhood, in this particular instance mentioned in the article, is taking the pro-government, anti-taxpayer/homeowner position. Surprise!!!

The evidence was clear even before last November's election that Lewy just absolutely hates the idea of any government -anywhere- not having the money they want to do whatever the politicians want to do, esp. in Hallandale Beach, whether the taxpayers want it or not, including charitable contributions.

Those financial contributions with taxpayer's funds were the subject of my March 10th post titled, Hallandale Beach Hides Financial Contributions From Public Record" as policy -stealthy public records are longstanding issue under mayor Joy Cooper

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/hallandale-beach-hides-financial.html

BrowardPalmBeach New Times
Public Records Hallandale Beach Hides Financial Contributions From Public Record
By Stefan Kamph,
Thursday, March 10, 2011 @ 11:21AM

​Most people are proud of their charitable donations and don't mind publicizing them a bit.

But the people who run the city government of Hallandale Beach are not most people. All of the donations that a city makes to charity are supposed to be available as public records, including who the checks went to, what accounts they came from, and the amounts of the contributions.
Read the rest of the post at: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2011/03/hallandale_beach_hides_financial_contributions_from_public_record.php

Today's follow-up -

BrowardPalmBeach New Times
Oops! Redacted Hallandale Beach Transactions Were Taken from Wrong Accounts
By Stefan Kamph,
Tuesday, March 22 2011 @ 12:11PM

Well, that's a relief.
Good to know that the City of Hallandale Beach wasn't covering up some massive intrigue when it covered up charitable contributions in public records with no explanation. No, they were just covering up a good old blunder: taking money from the wrong bank account.

Read the rest of the post at: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2011/03/redacted_hallandale_beach_contributions_explained.php

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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/21/2127048/house-wants-voters-to-decide-on.html
House wants voters to decide on property tax cuts
By Mary Ellen Klas, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

March 21, 2011

A move to give all Florida property owners a deeper property tax cut continued to gather steam in the Florida House Monday as a committee voted to put the measure on the ballot as early as 2012.

The bill, approved by the House Community & Military Affairs Subcommittee, would give commercial property owners and those with investment homes in Florida, a tax break that would match the one residential property owners now have under the Save Our Homes provisions of the state constitution.

If approved by voters, the maximum increase in the assessed value of commercial and non-homestead property would go from 10 to 3 percent. First-time home buyers would get a one-time $200,000 tax credit and all other homeowners would not see their taxes rise unless their property values increased.

The proposal, in effect, would give voters the option of enacting the deep property tax cuts sought by Gov. Rick Scott, who this year called for a $1.4 billion reduction in property taxes. Legislators have said they are unlikely to agree to it because it would require deeper cuts than they are prepared to make in the face of a $3.8 billion budget deficit.

But if voters approve the measure, economists predict the change will result in $231 million in revenue losses to cities and counties in the first year and as much as $1.2 billion in three years.

“We can’t handle that,’’ said Devin Suggs, lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities. He said that rather than benefit from an upturn in the economy, the proposed amendment would hurt cities and counties because they couldn’t capture any of the growth in property values.

Hallandale Beach city commissioner Alexander Lewy warned that the measure could mean a loss of $900,000 to his city alone — more than the city’s annual fuel bill, more than the city pays for sewer, water and utilities and more than the cost of a new fire truck. “I ask you to please reconsider this because it would really be hurtful to the residents you represent,’’ he said.

But Rep. Chris Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, the bill’s sponsor, called that argument a red herring. He said this gives businesses the tax certainty they need to bring jobs to Florida.

The proposed constitutional amendment is similar to a proposed amendment legislators put on the ballot in 2010 to cap increases in the assessed value of non-homestead property at 5 percent a year. That measure was thrown off the ballot by a Tallahassee judge.

Rep. Scott Randolph, a Orlando Democrat, voted against the bill because it locks in the inequities created by the Save Our Homes amendment, which caps increases in property assessment at three percent a year. Now, however, if people’s homes don’t rise in value but are assessed at below market rates, they can be required to pay more taxes. Under Dorworth’s bill, if people’s property values don’t rise their taxes don’t rise.

-----

And we all know who the present head of the anti-citizen.taxpayer Florida League of Cities is, don't we?
Joy Cooper, our city's contribution to heated political rhetoric that sheds little light. http://www.floridaleagueofcities.com/

Some things to ponder:

Those of you who told me last year that Lewy wasn't "as bad" as I repeatedly documented in emails and blog posts, and said that Lewy was going to make a positive difference, when, EXACTLY, is that going to be happening?

When, EXACTLY, is Lewy's first unscripted public meeting with the community taking place over at the HB Cultural Center, at his cost, just as London has been doing for years?
Or, is Lewy still waiting for Cooper, Ross & Sanders to FINALLY have their first one after all these years?

When is Lewy going to actually second London's common sense motion to have a community meeting/forum on the two-way street proposal that City Manager Mark Antonio has even admitted in city documents should've already taken place -in the past.

That necessary important public meeting which, as of today, is STILL NOT scheduled?

So far, Lewy has played his role perfectly as a member of the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew, and he has done nothing to alter that public perception since his election five months ago.
He's exactly what we thought he was.

By the way, if you haven't seen it in a while, Bett Willet's blog, Blog by Bett, is quite instructive as her entry from March 9th, about the City of Deerfield Beach, is both informative and humorous (in a sad way), and could just as easily describe the highly questionable work-ethic and sleepwalking antics of the HB City Commission -save Keith London- who swallow what they're given with nary a peep.
http://blogbybett.blogspot.com/

There's what Joy Cooper says -and there's reality. Here's a dose of reality to chew over; What does Jessica Sanders do exactly?

I've been sitting on this for a while now, just waiting for the right time to post it, though truth be told, the well-informed and concerned citizens of Hallandale Beach have been talking about this issue for quite some time.

That is, why there's so very little public accountability on behalf of city taxpayers for public funds at Hallandale Beach City Hall, especially when it involves City Hall cronies and people they are used to rewarding for political support, no matter how preposterous the planned use of the funds.
In the case at hand, in the letter at the bottom, that involves among others, Jessica Sanders, the wife of HB Comm. Antony A. Sanders.

That you've seen so little mention of it elsewhere only proves what I and so many others paying attention here have been saying, not only about the state of the South Florida news media in the year 2011, but how utterly delighted Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew are that the press is sleeping on the job.
That makes it much easier for them to keep doing what they're doing and avoid detection.

But before I share with you a letter about the nitty-gritty reality of failed policies and wasted tax dollars in this city -Hallandale Beach Weed and Seed- let's look at the fantasy world of HB mayor Joy Cooper as expressed in yesterday's Miami Herald, which carried a Guest Op-Ed from her in her role as head of the Florida League of Cities, just one of the reasons that she is around less-and-less.
Well, besides her home in Colorado.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/06/2052839/we-want-to-work-with-the-governor.html

Miami Herald
February 11, 2011

We want to work with the governor

Florida’s cities wholeheartedly share Gov. Rick Scott’s objective of creating jobs and fostering an economic climate in which employers and families can thrive. Our cities can play a key role in this important mission, and cities stand ready to work shoulder to shoulder with Scott.

City officials want to create a new partnership with state leaders. This is why, as president of the Florida League of Cities, I created the Keys to the Cities Task Force. The task force created Keys to the Cities — a resource to provide additional insight into issues important to Florida’s cities, coming from the perspective of more than 400 communities in which the majority of Floridians live, work, learn, worship and play.

The task force’s document, which can be found at www.floridaleagueofcities.com, has focused on the following areas:

• Improving fiscal accountability and responsibility

• Making government smarter

• Investing in opportunity

• Fiscal responsibility for the future

• Managing and sustaining recovery

We believe that, working with the governor and the Legislature, we can take our state to higher levels of excellence by promoting smart policies that couple spurring growth with respecting the long-term principle of home rule.

Keys to the Cities extends a hand of friendship and cooperation across the levels of government to provide the new administration with a valuable blueprint for building this important relationship to benefit Floridians.

As the government closest to the people, a city has a unique bond with its residents. Each one of Florida’s 410 cities is unique. But no matter their size or scope, all cities have the same goal: to deliver varied, high-quality services in an efficient and responsive manner; enhance residents’ quality of life; and promote education, employment and economic development.

We understand the challenges and opportunities Scott will face. With an eye on building a better and more-prosperous future, the cities look forward to opening a proactive and productive dialogue with state leaders. We stand ready to provide assistance to achieve the overarching goals we share.

Joy Cooper, mayor, Hallandale Beach

-----

Improving fiscal accountability and responsibility?
Really, how about starting in the city where you have been mayor for so long?

How about real tangible consequences for city employees and contractors who DON'T do their job promptly and fail to deliver a dollar's worth of work or service for a dollar's worth of taxpayer's funds?

How about YOU and your Rubber Stamp Crew stop voting to break the city's very own requirements for who can be given CRA grants and loans, especially when they don't meet most of the very low thresholds, not just one?
But no, you and your cohorts prefer to make excuses for why the city's own rules must be continually trampled.
That's YOUR track record, year-after-year.
And where are the positive results?

Which leads me to the letter below that was sent to Hallandale Beach city manager Mark Antonio and stamped January 26th by his office.
It speaks volumes, and it's just the tip of the iceberg of longstanding problems in this city that Cooper and City Hall have ignored, hoping nobody would notice.

In the weeks and months ahead on this blog, since the local media shows no genuine curiosity for stories that once upon a time, real reporters responded to -esp. after you give it to them on a silver platter- you'll see more and more photos and video here of these problems.

My aim is that whenever possible, to work on cutting out the middle-man: the South Florida news media.

----




As always, to keep up with the latest fiasco or spectacle in Hallandale Beach under the Cooper & Antonio regime, go to my friend Michael Butler's blog, Change Hallandale,
http://www.changehallandale.com/

Mayor Joy Cooper & her new Hallandale Beach city commissioner puppet are in Denver for a boondoggle, yet all they'll get me is a bill, not a good idea

Above, October 9th, 2010 photo of Hallandale Beach City Hall by South Beach Hoosier

Mayor Joy Cooper & her new Hallandale Beach city commissioner puppet -Alexander Lewy- are in Denver for a boondoggle, yet all they'll get me is a bill, not a good idea.
I wonder if she's any more honest in a mile-high city than she is in one that's at sea level -Hallandale Beach.

This week's National League of Cities conference in Denver is the reason that the Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting was pushed back to Dec. 8th from Wednesday.
http://www.nlc.org/CONFERENCES___EVENTS/CONGRESS_OF_CITIES___EXPOSITION/Backtomain.aspx

I remind you that for years, prior to this past year's convention being held nearby at the Westin Diplomat over at Hollywood, Beach, that ALL five members of the HB City Commission went to the Florida League of Cities' annual convention.

(Be sure to see Bob Norman's excellent Aug. 23rd post on that convention, titled, Our Politicians at the Trough
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/08/florida_league_of_cities_dinner.php)

I don't have a problem with these sorts of conventions, per se, but how many cities as small as Hallandale Beach sent EVERY elected official to Orlando every year, all at taxpayer expense?
I'm guessing that the answer is NONE.

NONE -just like the tangible positive results that emerged for HB taxpayers as a result of that pointless trip.

After all, the Joy Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew didn't suddenly start asking pertinent questions of Dept. heads or finally demand some genuine accountability and transparency from City Hall after they got back, did they, so why send five of them instead of one?
5 times 0 is the same as 1 times 0.

-----

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Politics blog
By Brittany Wallman
November 24, 2010 08:00 AM

Several Broward County cities are sending multiple elected officials to Denver, Colo., in early December.

Why? To find out from city finance experts how to deal with the recessionary economy. One of the speakers at the four-day National League of Cities event is what you could call a "local'' -- former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/11/local_politicians_will_get_tas.html

2010 Summer swelter budget blues, NYC's ballooning pension costs and cutting-back elected officials perks

KNVB -Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond

Sunday July 11th, 2010
Just biding my time waiting for The Netherlands to beat Spain 4-2 in today's World Cup final.

Per the spot-on New York Post article below, City taxpayers foot 90% of municipal pensions, it'd be nice to see a South Florida news media organization that could produce a reliable chart indicating what those pension numbers are for South Florida's myriad cities and counties. Don't hold your breath!
It's summer after all.

In two weeks here in Hallandale Beach, the city's staff will have their public budget workshops with the City Commission that they could've actually conducted weeks ago when more of the city's populace was actually still here, and hadn't fled the summer swelter, so they'd have had more time to go over the staff's numbers and projections in devising questions of their own.

In case you forgot, that was yet another motion made by Comm. Keith London that lost 4-1.

But that's fine... now I and many other concerned residents just plan on spending more time asking LOTS of specific questions for Comm. Ross, Sanders and Julian to personally answer about what specific city programs they want to cut or pare-down, as well as explain why should the community trust their judgment given how reluctant they've been to fully carrying out their legal oversight role of the City Manager's Office and keep an eye on the the Depts of this city, almost all of whom believe they are princely kingdoms of which there can be no criticism.

Though I'm not opposed to it in the abstract, since there's something to be said for attending conventions, a very good place to start cutting the city's budget is the city's travel expense account.

Can you name another city in South Florida, much less, one as small as Hallandale Beach, that routinely sends ALL of its City Commissioners to the Florida League of Cities' convention in Orlando, usually noted for its anti-taxpayer agitprop and propaganda?
http://www.floridaleagueofcities.com/

But that's what happens here every year, as if it's an entitlement written in the city's charter.
Why do they ALL have to go at our expense?
It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

It's like rewarding people who don't pay attention to their own city, and telling them they can take a travel junket to a place where nobody knows what a truly abysmal job they do.
Actually, it's not "like" that, it's exactly our reality.

At least this year's event is at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, from August 19-21, right before the primary election, so there will doubtless be lots of statewide candidates milling about, eager to talk to anyone who will listen.

Can't be sure but I'm guessing that considering FLOC's bluster on this and so many other public policy issues, there will be at least a few hours of one day spent debating(!) the question,
Will Amendment 4 really destroy Florida like we said it will, or are we just angry that FL citizens will no longer defer to our infinite wisdom as elected officials?

And what about HB instituting a prohibition like many other South Florida cities on city taxpayers paying the hotel expenses for any city employee or elected official attending an event, forum or convention in Miami-Dade or Broward County -and something with real teeth?

I'd be in favor of forcing HB City Hall to put all taxpayer-paid travel expenses for city employees and elected officials on a designated page on the city's website within 72 hours, with name, title, total costs and description of event.

Why do I think this?
Perhaps you forgot about this telling story about HB Mayor Joy Cooper from 18 months ago:
My mayor went to the Inaugural but all I got was the bill and her imperious attitude!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-mayor-went-to-inaugural-but-all-i.html

New York Post
City taxpayers foot 90% of municipal pensions
By Susan Edelman
Last Updated: 10:31 AM, July 11, 2010
Posted: 2:10 AM, July 11, 2010

Taxpayers kick in an average $8.60 for every dollar that city employees contribute to their pensions, a sweet deal costing the Big Apple a bundle.

Even though their own retirements are less secure, as private businesses have shifted from traditional pensions to riskier savings plans like 401(k)s, taxpayers' support for rock-solid public employee pension plans is growing. That's because pension funds are guaranteed to grow 8 percent a year -- and taxpayers have to make up the difference if they don't.

Taxpayers' share of city pension costs has skyrocketed more than 900 percent in the last decade -- from $703.1 million in 2000 to $6.5 billion in 2009, according to the city comptroller's annual reports.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/you_pay_the_price_hNooJsBk9MtO67HvinglHP