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Monterey County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
Smart Voter

Keeping Pacific Grove Financially Solvent

By Ken Cuneo

Candidate for Member, City Council; City of Pacific Grove

This information is provided by the candidate
The first duty of any local government is to have the necessary finances to perform its role of providing services to its residents
Pacific Grove is not unlike a family budget. How is this? Well just like a family, Pacific Grove needs funds to keep it running. Some expenditures are fixed just like a family mortgage or a car payment. Other expenditures are flexible and permit selection or choosing. Think vacations or a night at a good restaurant. One must ensure that revenue coming in is greater than expenses. So it is for Pacific Grove.

When I joined the City Council there were virtually no reserves; now we have about FOUR MILLION IN RESERVE. How did this happen? I and the City Council have carefully reviewed all expenditures and services to see if needed. Then should these services be performed only by City Employees under CALPERS; or should they be contracted with a local business, or perhaps shared with other cities? In this way many employees were taken off CALPERS and put under private pensions. The result was savings and better performance. I am proud that Pacific Grove can pay its payroll and bills in the immediate future (next four years). The threats of bankruptcy have been greatly exaggerated. We are good to go forward!

The overall issue of CALPERS pensions can only be solved by the Governor and State Legislature. We have used the Pension Reform Act of 2013 to make some modest progress.

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