STA Letter to Mayor and City Council Re: Double Dippers

Dear Mayor Steinberg and City Councilmembers,                             January 4, 2017

 

 

As President of the Sacramento Taxpayers Association, we ask that you put off consideration of the proposed employment agreements between the city and Mike McKeever, as an interim chief of staff to the mayor, and Jerry Way, as an interim assistant to interim city manager Howard Chan.

 

Mr. McKeever and Mr. Way only recently retired from local government service and are  likely drawing substantial monthly CalPERS pension checks.  Hiring them would make them “Double Dippers” if they are employed and allowed to continue to cash pension checks while employed by the city.

 

To allow this double dipping is in direct violation of Governor Edmund G. Brown’s sweeping pension reform of 2012, which was crafted to end abuses such as post-retirement employment for government employees.

 

Additionally, it is difficult to believe that Mr. McKeever and Mr. Way are the only two qualified individuals to fill these new slots, or that Chan is hiring back his recently retired former boss as his assistant, for a staggering monthly salary of more than $15,000 – on top of his $18,000/mo. pension check.

 

We believe it is incumbent on the City Council to postpone consideration of these employment agreements until the city has publicly disclosed  McKeever’s and Way’s actual anticipated total incomes, and both the media and the public have had a reasonable opportunity to assess the facts and respond to such information as they deem appropriate.

 

Thank you for consideration.  Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss this matter.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Katy Grimes, President
Sacramento Taxpayers Association
Phone:  916-417-6780
Website: www.sacramentotaxpayers.com
E-mail: fetchingjen@gmail.com
1620 35th Street, Suite K
Sacramento, CA 95822

 

cc: Howard Chan, City Manager

James Sanchez, City Attorney

Leyne Milstein, Director of Finance

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