IRVINE MATTERS -- GREAT PARK UPDATE! "Last Tuesday’s Council meeting proved once again that our positive vision for Irvine — coupled with a 12-year record (2000-2012) of excellent financial planning — can overcome a negative narrative driven by ideology, not by facts. The Tuesday, June 25th Council meeting began at 2 p.m. We used to have separated Great Park meetings with ample time to discuss matters, but Councilmember Jeff Lalloway, who serves as Chair, now allows only two hours preceding our regular City Council meeting for Great Park business. The central issue on the agenda was the Great Park 2013-2014 budget — a budget without a vision that included nearly $2 million in additional cuts to Park programming and operations recommended by Chair Lalloway and Mayor Choi. Jeff Lalloway and Steven Choi continue to drive the false narrative that the Park is “out of money,” when the plain truth is that the Great Park’s net worth stands at nearly $800 million — with 1,500 acres of land, with no debt, with tens of millions of dollars in available cash and millions more generated annually, and with new Park features that will be completed this summer: the South Lawn and state-of-the-art sports features, the Historic Walkable Timeline, the Reflecting Pond and Viewing Pier, and a new Visitors Center. When it became clear that the objective of “de-activating” the Park was being driven by ideology and not facts, our recommendation to restore $1 million in available funding to the Great Park budget for cultural, recreational and athletic programming was accepted, garnering the necessary third vote to pass from Councilmember Christina Shea. Following a closed session meeting at 4 p.m., the official City Council meeting got underway at 5 p.m., with the key item of business focused on long-term funding for the City’s pension plan for employees. We have all read the headlines and heard the news reports about cities in bankruptcy and huge “unfunded liabilities.” What you rarely see is the headline Irvine truly deserves: Irvine, California has a balanced budget, no municipal debt, strong reserves and a newly-adopted plan to fully fund its pension obligations a decade earlier than planned, which will save the City between $22.1 million and $33.1 million! Generally referred to as an “unfunded liability,” cities throughout California face the challenge of how to fund pension obligations over the next 30 years. In Irvine, we anticipate a long-term obligation of about $91.1 million — a very manageable number in light of the City’s strong fiscal position. By leveraging funds in the City’s long-term reserves (our $60 million Asset Management Plan), dedicating $3 million from this year’s $11 million budget surplus, and applying an average of $1 million a year for 13 years from expected future surpluses, the City’s retirement plans will be fully funded and the Asset Management Plan will be fully re-paid. This is a truly extraordinary achievement. We are proud of Irvine’s history of smart, steady fiscal stewardship under the progressive Mayors and City Councils who led the City from 2000-2012. We balanced our budgets, paid off all outstanding debt, improved municipal services, adopted a “no-layoff” employment security policy, and avoided any new taxes. In 2008, Business Week magazine ranked Irvine among America’s top-20 “recession ready” cities. In fact, we successfully navigated our way through the Great Recession by carefully deploying short-term “rainy day” reserves of nearly $30 million — reserves that we quickly restored to pre-recession levels. Smart planning is not just about how we build houses, roads and parks. To maintain our position as America’s most successful planned community, we must invest in high-quality employees, ensure the long-term maintenance of our City infrastructure and be both creative and strategic in the way we address our challenges. The greatest liability any community can face is a lack of vision and political will."
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 21:58:28 +0000
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