A lot of folks have seen doom and gloom in the recession we just past through.  I thought it was important to get a historical perspective on this issue.  We have had worse times that the last recession.  We may have more.  But the bottom line is how things have done in the long term.  The table in this article shows the historical rate of return on pension investments.

As a part of calculating the medical benefit liabilities for the LEOFF 1 plan, the State Actuary has produce this table showing the project payments year by year. Remember, these payments are made by the employer, not from the LEOFF 1 pension trust.

This article shows those projections and discusses the funding options available to the cities and counties.

This article shows the projected payouts from the LEOFF 1 Pension system.  Did you know the system is still in surplus?  The surplus is still in excess of $400 million and the stock market continues to climb.  As of November 23rd, the DOW closed at 10,450.95 and was up 132 points today.  See the full article for details.

Have you ever wondered about the contributions to the LEOFF 1 Fund? 
Attached  is a chart from the Department of Retirement Systems called a Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (1976 - 2000), Washington Law Enforcement Officers' and Firefighters' Retirement System Actuarial Valuations (1970-1975), showing the contribution history of the Employee, employer, and State contributions from Plan inception (1970) until contributions ceased (2000).

It is an interesting read because the state is always insisting they have put in over 77% of the money.  Of course when they make that arguement the forget to mention that they grandfathered in a lot of people who had made no contributions.  The also tend to forget to mention that they did not put in any money for the first 5 years.  The amount of the State's share would have been considerably smaller if they had funded it from the start.

Click here to view the file.

(Note: This article was written for publication in the "Call Box".  The Call Box is the quarterly newsletter of the Retired Seattle Police Officers' Association.  The Call Box was published prior to the recent incident in Parkland where four Lakewood Police Officers were murdered.)

As I sat down to write this article I found myself consumed with a flood of emotions stemming from the brutal assassination of Officer Tim Brenton. 

We are all deeply saddened by this event. It is impossible to fully express our sympathy for Officer Brenton’s family and our hope that they are provided with the support and resources to weather the grief.  In an instant, children lost their father and a wife became a widow.  I know that all Seattle Police Officers, active and retired, are experiencing these same emotions.  Indeed the entire law enforcement community feels the same.

Tim was a Seattle Police Officer and part of our family. 

That family is even more personal.  Boyd (Buzz) Brenton is Tim’s father.  Buzz is a retired Seattle Police Officer.  Tom Brenton, another retired Seattle Police Officer, is Tim’s uncle.  This death is not only within the police family but also in a family of police.

Our concerns, thoughts and prayers are with the Brenton family.

Recently the Coalition sent out a newsletter in which they make a lot of statements that are innacurate, incomplete and not true.  Of course the enclosed a donation envelope and asked for more money.  Our original intent was to do a point-by-point review of that letter in order to provide better facts.

We have decided to take a slightly different approach.  Read the full article to find out why.

The trial of Swisher v City of Moses Lake has been completed. The judge ordered Moses Lake to pay all bills approved by the Disability Board and awarded attorneys fees and costs to the plaintiff. Additionally, the court issued an injunction effective at the end of the thirty day appeal period. The injunction orders them to pay all future necessary medical expenses approved by the Disability Board. While always possible, an appeal is not expected.

The case did clarify that Disability Boards should classify approved medical bills as “medically necessary”. Since the board had not included that notation in their records, some trial time was spent establishing that that was the board’s intent.

Kudos to Joe Fischnaller for another job well done.

In fairness, the Coalition did fund this lawsuit.  It was the right thing to do and I supported that action when I was on the board.

As of November 23, 2009, Joe Fischnaller reports that the only thing outstanding on this is his motion for the award of attorney's fees.  While statuatory fees were awarded, Joe is attempting to recover the actual costs.  A hearing on this issue is pending. 

You may have recently received a notice from the LEOFF I Coalition. You will note from the enclosed envelope that they are, again, asking you to send money.

DO NOT SEND THEM ANY MONEY! 

Read the article to find out why.

This is the first in a series of articles in response to a recent Coalition mailing.

Rep. Rick Larsen on the windfall tax.  Not quite as positive as Sen. Cantwell's response but at least we are keepin the issue on the burner.

Barry Newson contacted Senator Cantwell's office about the Windfall Tax. She replied and we are providing a copy of that reply here.  It seems to me that everybody should write to her just to let her know that we expect this bill to get out of committee and passed.  It has been in committee for several years now and gets renewed every year but never seems to get out of committee.  I don't know if it is intended to get out of committee or if the bill is just there to appease us.