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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10 - Orange County Grand Jury Response - Transparency.pdfSEW p w CITY OF as NEWPORT BEACH �q��oP City Council Staff Report Agenda Item No. 10 October 9, 2012 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: City Manager's Office Dave Kiff, City Manager 949 - 644 -3002, dkiff @newportbeachca.gov PREPARED BY: Dave Kiff, City Manager APPROVED: TITLE: Response to the OC Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" ABSTRACT: The City of Newport Beach (City) is obligated to respond to a recent Orange County Grand Jury report on transparency of pension and other costs. The response is due by October 12, 2012. RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the Mayor to send the attached response to the Presiding Judge. FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: There is no fiscal impact related to this item. DISCUSSION: Please see the attached draft response. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it Response to the OC Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" October 09, 2012 Page 2 has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. NOTICING: The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). Submitted by: 1!�n 0. Oa�e Kiff, City M nager Attachments: A. Proposed draft response to the Grand Jury B. Grand Jury Report 4 Response to the OC Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" October 09, 2012 Page 3 October 10, 2012 The Honorable Thomas J. Borris Presiding Judge of the Superior Court 700 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, California 92701 RE: Report of the Orange County Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" Dear Judge Borris: The attached is the City of Newport Beach's formal response to the above -noted Grand Jury Report. If you or any members of the Grand Jury have questions about our response, please do not hesitate to contact City Manager Dave Kiff at dkiffC@newoortbeachca.aov or 949 - 644 -3001. Sincerely, NANCYGARDNER Mayor of Newport Beach Response to the OC Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" October 09, 2012 Page 4 RE: Response to a Report of the Orange County Grand Jury titled "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" FROM: City of Newport Beach, California DATE: October 9, 2012 The Grand Jury's recent report, "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" obligates the City of Newport Beach (City) to respond no later than October 12, 2012 to: • Findings 2, 3, 4, and 5; and • Recommendations 2, 3, 4, and 5. City Manager Dave Kiff was instructed to respond to the report on the City's behalf. His comments follow. FINDINGS Finding 2 — Content and Clarity Ratings for EXECUTIVE Compensation Cost. Twenty of the thirty-four cities were rated good, average, poor and nonexistent for Executive Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of whom could improve to excellent. Response: We agree that we can improve the provision of this information. Finding 3 — Content and Clarity Ratings for EMPLOYEE Compensation Cost Ratings. Twenty -nine of the thirty-four cities were rated good, average, poor and nonexistent for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of whom could improve to excellent. Response: We agree that we can improve the provision of this information. Finding 4 — Many Orange County local government web sites do not generally post their employer pension annual contribution rates prominently to their web sites as part of their compensation cost disclosure for public disclosure. Response: We agree that this information is not easy to find on our website, and that can be improved fairly easily. Finding 5 — Two key categories are missing from compensation cost reporting. They are overtime pay and on -call pay. 4 Response to the OC Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" October 09, 2012 Page 5 Response: We agree that this information is not easy to determine, but it also varies significantly person to person and year to year. It might be easier to post a year in arrears rather than in the current year. RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation #2 — The City should upgrade its executive compensation page, with a particular emphasis on pension costs. Response: This recommendation has not been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, within roughly six months. Recommendation #3 — The City should upgrade its employee compensation cost pages, with o particular emphasis on pension costs, overtime pay, on -call pay, and expanded descriptions." Response: This recommendation has not been implemented, but portions of it will be implemented in approximately six months. It may be challenging to include overtime pay and on -call pay by specific individual, given that these numbers change frequently, and can vary year to year. The City will examine ways to provide this information. Recommendation #4 — The City should post its employer pension annual contribution rates prominently and transparently on their websites. Response: This recommendation has not been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, within roughly six months. Recommendation #5 — The City should include overtime pay and on -call pay in compensation cost reporting on their employees' compensation pages. Response: As noted in our response to Recommendation #3, the City will examine ways to provide this information in a relevant and timely way. As of the date of this response, this recommendation requires further analysis to examine whether current year or past year information is regularly reportable, and whether the City's current software system could effectively provide it. The analysis will be completed within six months. If the Grand Jury has any questions or concerns about this response, please contact City Manager Dave Kiff at 949 - 644 -3001 or dkiff @newportbeachca.gov 5 700 CIVIC CENTER DRIVE WEST • SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA 92701 • 714/8343320 www.ocgrandiury.org • FAX 714/8345555 June 7, 2012 Nancy Gardner, Mayor City of Newport Beach 3300 Newport Blvd. Newport Beach, CA 92663 Dear Mayor Gardner Enclosed is a copy of the 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury report, "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog - But Why Hide Pension Costs?" Pursuant to Penal Code 933.05(f), a copy of the report is being provided to you at least two working days prior to its public release. Please note that, "No officer, agency, department, or governing body of a public agency shall disclose any contents of the report prior to the public release of the final report." (Emphasis added.) It is required that you provide a response to each of the findings and recommendations of this report directed to your office in compliance with Penal Code 933.05(a) and (b), copy enclosed. Please distribute this report to your governing body. For each Grand Jury recommendation accepted and not implemented, provide a schedule for future implementation. In addition, by the end of March of each subsequent year, please report on the progress being made on each recommendation accepted but not completed. These annual reports should continue until all recommendations are implemented. Please mail the response to the recommendations to Thomas J. Burris, Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, CA 92701, with a separate copy mailed to the Orange County Grand Jury, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, CA 92701, no later than 90 days after the public release date, June 14, 2012, in compliance with Penal Code 933, copy attached. The due date then is October 12, 2012. Should additional time for responding to this report be necessary for further analysis, Penal Code 933.05(b)(3) permits an extension of time up to six months from the public release date. Such extensions should be advised in writing, with the information required in Penal Code 933.05(b)(3), to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, with a separate copy of the request to the Grand Jury. We tentatively plan to issue the public release on June 14. Upon public release, the report will be available on the Grand Jury web site (www.oc2randiuri-mre). Roy B. aker 111, Foreman 2011 012 ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY Enclosures Grand Jury Report Penal Code 933,933.05 cc: City Manager COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCr TRANSPARENCY BREAKING UP CO - BUT WHY HIDE PENSION COSTS? Compensation Cosl Transparency for Orange County Cities, Districts, Joins Power Authority and County Government This country prided itself on openness and yet, it wasn't open. It's still not open. And a_H we're tryine to do is let people know how their money is beine scent Brian Lamb. C -SPAN Founder At CEO SUMMARY The 2010 City of Bell compensation revelations2 stimulated the public's interest in local government compensation costs. The quest for more compensation transparency from local governments was intensified by the following factors: • Financial and housing markets' extensive downturns impacted governmental tax bases and fanned public anxieties; • Public services came under financial strain throughout Orange County; • Public awareness and dialogue increased about the financial impacts of government guaranteed pensions; • Size of unfunded public sector pension liabilities generated concerns among both workers and taxpayers. In 2012, new upcoming Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) standards may be issued. They will spotlight the amounts of unfunded pension liabilities officially on local governments' 2013 balance sheets. Press coverage will spark public dialogue about the ability to meet pension obligations to public sector employees. Last year's Orange County Grand Jury, the Orange County Register, State Legislature and State Controller, among others, suggested guidelines and requirements for local government compensation transparency. The 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury issued specific guidelines in 2011 to local governments for reporting compensation costs. The 2011 -2012 Grand Jury decided to follow up on the implementation status of the 2010- 2011's recommendations. The Grand Jury wanted to recognize the progress made in each Orange County city, special district, joint power authority and the County. ' NPR lzomitworasfe• Lsmb.3i212012. htir %mN mx. x2012 03 21 149MM7 after -3a -% cars -N0h - span- hrun- IamM�L -doNn 'Los Angeles Times. `Nigh Movies Stir 0"s, in Bell" spring 3010 series, htlya. uwN.Igyn� corn ucws Iowl'hcll 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 1 !�Illl COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY The 2011 -2012 Grand Jury assessed how well Orange County local governments reported compensation costs for all employee positions, in one easy -to -find, easy -to -read chart Also reviewed was the top -level compensation cost chart for all elected officials and executives over $100,000 in base salary, as recommended in 2011 This study found that compensation cost transparency is improving in Orange County local governments. That is a good trend, but much more improvement is needed In addition, this study tound that with a few notable exceptions, complete pension costs for employees are still hidden from public view. The 2011-2012 Grand Jury recommends that Orange County local governments .should upgrade their websites to provide complete cost transparency of precise salary and benefits at all levels. in an easy to read table format The 2011 -2012 Grand Jury recommends that governmental costs jar funding pensions for each employee should be brought out of the shadows and made transparent These costs should be reported by each Orange County government on its website as part of employee compensation cost reporting. The governmental annual costs of funding pensions are important and significant. For Orange County local governments, their pension annual funding costs for employees on the current payroll range from: • 9% to 28% of salary for a general employee; • 10% to 48% of salad, for a public safety employee. REASON FOR STUDY Transparency is a hallmark of good government. The United Nations defined transparency as one of the eight characteristics that the UN Economics and Social Commission use in its explanation of good governance.3 Transparency ..means that information is freely available and directly accessible . It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media "4 Within a democracy, "Compensation Cost Transparency" (CCT) can provide the public with a check and balance mechanism for ensuring appropriate levels of government employee pay and benefits remuneration. ' llne other 7 cbaraderistics are 1) Participation. 2) Rule of law 3) Rcspewiveness 4) (:onacrosua oricnted S) Equity & Inclusiveness 6) ERcdivaness & afLciency and 7) Accowrtability I N Economics and Social Commission see page 3 of p_ugescan rxe ndd fns ProromAa iv Ia ( )i)amgyggovcmance.aen 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 2 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Peter Finn, the Washington Post grand prize winner of the RFK Journalism Award, stated it well, when he said: "A havic tenet oja healthy democracy is open dialogue curd transparency. "J In California, the top elected financial official, John Chiang, California State Controller stated: "Holding public officials accountable for how they manage public dollars relies heavily on transparency. '-6 Last year, the 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury reported: 1) On"... a disturbing level of inconsistency in the degree of transparency pertaining to OC Cities' compensation information which was then provided to the public; 2) "7hat the degree of transparency then provided to the public by the County of Orange regarding compensation information was inadequate in its accessibility, content and clarity; "" and 3) "Wide variations among the water and sanitation districts studied in the ability of the general public to obtain compensation, financial and meeting information. As a result, the Grand .hiry recommended minimum standards for information on water and sanitation district websites. "9 The 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury recommended a model for use in reporting municipal and county compensation costs. Such information was recommended to be made readily accessible on the Internet websites of all Orange County cities and the county respectively, as soon as practical. The 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury recommended that the Orange County water and sanitation districts provide compensation data for the board of directors and general manager, as well as current budget and financial reports. The data was recommended to be in an easily accessible format on each district's website. During that same fiscal year, and effective November 1, 2010, the California State Controller requested local governments to report salary and benefit information for all employees /positions. The content of the State Controller's website posting of cash compensation by employee has a different focus than that of the Orange County Grand Jury. Some major benefit amounts paid by the local government are not requested by the state and no salary and benefit total is rendered. ' Peter Finn. Washington Post. see hten H".% brani,uuulc vin IHml "John Chiang California State Controller, nacember 12, 2011. aec hnp_ ,wivwscn cjjLov co cssel 11227.Inm1 ' "Convenrarion Srrdr of Orange Cowry Grier,'• 2010.2011 Change County Gmnd Jury Final Report, Summary, p. 117. �.„ w Wx dho ant i "ComW ojOrante Compenrarion Dirdorwre." 2010.2011 Orange Couny Grand Jury Final Report. Summary, p. 107, N NN.pCAffdJil(�'.�I[g_ e t f ant a "Compman on ojOnWe count' Wows and SonOalion Dietrich." 2010.2011 Grange Coumy Grand Jury Final Repent, Summary. p. 161. •.iuu S�It16fldlun,YlG ISCW.ILB!0 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 3 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY The 2010 -2011 and 2011 -2012 Grand Juries request disclosure of the government's costs of total compensation by employee/position. One example is the Grand Jury's inclusion of annual pension contributions by governments to honor future benefit promises to the employee, which the State currently excludes. In the future, Orange County local governments could be more efficient, if these two perspectives would merge to become one. The 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury decided to do a follow -up study to recognize those Orange County governments that had embraced the full spirit of "Compensation Cost Transparency" (CCT) at the local level. The Grand Jury wanted to spotlight those who had not yet gone beyond the bare minimum requested by State Controller mandate. The compensation cost study should extend beyond just the water and sanitation districts to the Orange County joint power authorities and other Orange County special districts. What is "Compensation Cost Transparency" (CCT)? It is instructive to compare "Compensation Cost Transparency" (CCT) to just "Compensation Transparency CCT makes visible for all citizens and taxpayers the government's annual costs of an employee's salary and benefits. Compensation transparency focuses just on the current salaries and benefits received in the current year by the employee. The difference is often due to the government costs of funding future benefits, like pensions, or deferred compensation. One example is the required funding of annual contributions to a pension investment pool. The government's contractual pension obligation is a future benefit for the employee. This compensation cost is not a current benefit for the employee. However, funding the future pension obligation is a current compensation cost for the government for employing that employee now. CCT provides a more complete view of the cost of employing an individual than does just compensation transparency. This report will use the acronym "CCT" to improve the readability of the text and flow of ideas for the reader. METHODOLOGY The 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury used the following process to assess CCT at the websites of Orange County cities, special districts, joint power authorities and county government. See Appendix E on the last 2 pages of this report for more detail. • Reviewed: • Thee 2010 -11 Orange County Grand Jury compensation reports; • The 54 county, city and special districts responses. ltl ° 54 responses from 53 entities as 2 rosponscs (a majority & minority response) were received from IAgmu Hills. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 4 10 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY as Discussed responses with selected local governments and followed up to obtain overdue responses; as Expanded: • The study from 53 to 58 local governments, by including eight additional special districts and joint power authority and dropping three; • The study to include all employees; • The web assessment rating criteria to define objective and precise criteria. o Corresponded with Orange County local governments to be studied; is Reviewed, documented and assessed the transparency and the combined content and clarity of Orange County local governments' web site multiple times; is Researched CalPERS and OCERS annual pension contribution rates required of Orange County local governments; as Discussed with the California State Controller Office's Bureau of Local Government Policy & Reporting to understand their plans for issuing expanded local government compensation reporting requirements within the state; ts Compiled data, charts and assessments from documentation and web reviews; as Analyzed the compiled facts and data to develop findings and recommendations to draft this study report. I ZT40 10 Fact — The County of Orange is the sixth most populous county in the United States and third most populous in the state of California. A population of 3.1 million persons resides within an area of almost 800 square miles. The County of Orange government has a budget of $5.5 billion, of which only $686 million is for general purpose discretionary revenue. The government of the County of Orange had 17,655 authorized employee positions in 2010 -2011. That number is in addition to the employees in the other 57 local governments within Orange County that were studied-" Fact — The 34 incorporated cities in Orange County range in population from over 6 thousand in Villa Park to over 350 thousand each in Anaheim and Santa Ana. 12 All cities have elected city councils and an appointed city manager /CEO. Fact — Seventeen water and/or sanitation districts are in Orange County, fifteen of which have web sites. 13 At the lower end of the range, their revenues range from more than $300 thousand for the Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Area Sewer District to more than $900 thousand for the Sunset Beach Sanitary District. In the upper range of revenues are the: The facts in this paragraph were sourced from 2011 Fact d Fglwes county of (range. 2011. "Ibid. Sunset Beach Sanitary District dots not have a web site and the Rossmooc7us Alamitos Mu Sewer District recently chow to discontinue their web situ due to now State legislation requvemcrau. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 5 11 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY • Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWD of OC) with $135 million; • Orange County Water District (OCWD) with more than $155 million; • Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) with more than $205 million; • Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) with $600 million. Fact — One Orange County transportation district included in this study has the following budget. • Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA), with a budget of $1.1 billion. Fact — One joint power authority in Orange County included in this study has the following budget. Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), with a budget of $282 million (before the addition of Santa Ana); Fact — Six non - enterprise special districts in Orange County with web sites were studied. Special districts are categorized as "enterprise districts" (those that sell products) or "non- enterprise districts" (those that only provide services). The smallest, Silverado - Modjeska Recreation and Parks District, had revenues of $93 thousand, while the others have revenues in the millions. The other five are the: • Rossmoor Community Service District, with revenue of $1.7 million, • Buena Park Library District, with revenue of more than $2 million; • Placentia Library District, with revenue of more than $2 million; • Orange County Cemetery District, with revenue of $3.7 million; • Orange County Vector Control District, with revenue of $10.3 million. Fact - As of November 1, 2010, the California State Controller announced new requirements for California local government entities (city, county and independent special districts) to report their government salary and compensation data annually. Results are at %vww_sco ca /gov!compensatioil search html or httpJ /h cr.sco ca oy //. The focus of the State mandated reporting system is on current compensation and is different from that recommended in this report or the 2010 -2011 Orange County Jury compensation study reports. The latter focuses on the government's total cost of employee compensation, including funding future benefits, like pensions. Fact — Most, but not all, of the Orange County government entities described above participate in either the California Public Retirement System (Ca1PERS) or the Orange County Employees 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 6 12 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Retirement System ( OCERS) for their employee's guaranteed pensions. f" Guaranteed pensions are called defined benefit plans (DBPs). DBPs guarantee the employee a specific pension upon retirement, regardless of agency financial conditions at the time of retirement. These guaranteed pensions are funded by the respective governments through investment contributions to CaIPERS or OCERS. CalPERS and OCERS invest the monies. When investment returns fall short of the amount needed, the government entity often needs to increase pension funding investment contributions. In the case of the cities and counties. the pension obligation is backed up by the taxpayer, and is a direct taxpayer obligation. ANALYSIS The local governments of Orange County, cities, special districts and joint power authorities have established and used their Internet web sites as an easy, efficient and effective way of communicating with the public. These website postings have provided a communications foundation to build transparency in government. The 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury recommended that all cities and the county government in Orange County report their compensation information to the public on the Internet in an easily accessible manner. A Compensation Disclosure Model was included in the 2010 -2011 Grand Jury reports. That model provided sample items to be included in determining total compensation. For the county, the positions to be reported included all elected officials, plus department heads. For cities, the positions required to be reported included all elected officials, plus all employees earning a base salary rate over $100,000 per year. The county and a majority of the cities started displaying salaries and benefits for all positions on their web sites. However, the entire dollar salary and benefit information requested was not always displayed. Subsequently, the 2011 -2012 Grand Jury concluded that the overtime and on- call pay items should be added to compensation reporting when extending the reporting to all employees (particularly for public safety employees). A new "de facto" standard was established when most local Orange County cities' web sites began to show compensation in some fashion for LdJ employee positions, not just the executive levels. This was done for full disclosure in light of the City of Bell compensation scandal, the Grand Jury recommendations and the California State Controller's new local government compensation reporting requirements. " El Two Water District, among others, does net offer a Defined Benefit Plan, and some plant are not affiliated with Ca1PERS or OCERS. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 7 13 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Likewise, the 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury recommended transparency guidelines to the water and sanitation districts. These districts were asked to provide data on compensation for the board of directors and general manager, as well as current budget and financial reports, in an easily accessible format on the district's website. Special districts and joint power authority that had not been specifically studied by the Orange County Grand Jury had the opportunity to observe clearly what was evolving for local Orange County city governments. The State Controller's office was requiring compensation transparency, as well. Compensation cost transparency (CCT) for all employees was being recommended for Orange County local governments with displays on their websites. The 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury assessed the CCT of Orange County local government websites in the following three categories for 2012: 1. Accessibility —Are transparent compensation costs readily identifiable from the home page, accessible without complex website search and layered navigations? 2. Content & Clarity for Executive Compensation Page — Are the components of both actual salary and all benefit costs presented? Are the components shown in detail, with a total compensation cost included in table form? Is the compensation information presented in a clear concise format that can be easily read and understood by the average viewer? 3. Content & Clarity for Employee Compensation Page — Are the components of both actual salary and all benefit costs presented? Are the components shown in detail, with a total compensation cost included in table form? Is the composition information presented in a clear, concise format that may be easily read and understood by the average viewer? A summary assessment follows below and in detail on later pages in Table 1. 1. Compensation Cost Transparency (CCT) Accessibility To be rated evicelicni for CCT accessibility the primacy link for compensation transparency needs to be easily found on the website's home page. Cities - The number of Orange County city web sites rated ewellen( for compensation transparency accessibility nearly doubled in number from thirteen cities in 2011 to twenty -five cities in 2012. The percentage of total Orange County cities rated excellent went from 38% in 2011 to 74% in 2012. Excellent commendable progress was achieved. County -The county government web site is now rated em -ellew for CCT accessibility. This was a significant achievement for the more than 17,000 positions involved. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 8 14 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Water & Sanitation Districts - Eleven of the fifteen Water and Sanitation Districts (73 %) are now rated excellent for CCT accessibility. Excellent progress was achieved overall. Non-enterprise Special Districts, Transportation Special District & Joint Power Authority (JPA) — Five of these eight special districts and JPA (63 %) were rated excellent for compensation accessibility. 2. Content & Clarity for the EXECUTIVE Compensation Cost Pace To be rated eccellemt for CCT Content and Clarity on the Executive Compensation Page - Full total salary and benefits compensation cost disclosure is needed in table format, including Defined Benefit Plan Pension Costs. To be rated.!,,,,, , d for CCT Content and Clarity on the Executive Compensation Page —Full total salary and benefits compensation cost disclosure is needed in table format, but Defined Benefit Plan Pension Costs are not displayed ities — In 2011, no cities were rated excellent for Content and Clarity. In contrast, in 2012, 14 cities were rated excellent for Content and Clarity for their Executive Compensation Page (41 %). This is a good start, since another three were rated < :.,i, bringing the combined total rated excellent and good up to 17 out of 34, for a total of 50 %. Co un — The County government web site Executive Compensation Page, which was nonexistent in 2010, is rated excellent for Content & Clarity in 2012. Water & Sanitation Districts — Only one of the 15 water & sanitation districts (7 %) was rated excellent for Content & Clarity on their Executive Compensation Page in 2012.15 They were not rated at all last year. In 2011, they were just provided with broad recommendations and without a suggested chart format. Expectations are to see great improvement in this area over the next year. CCT is needed in these powerful and often overlooked districts. Non - Enterprise Special Districts Transportation Special District & Joint Power Authority (JPA) — Only the two library special districts out of these eight special districts and JPA (25 %) were rated excellent this year for Content & Clarity for their Executive Compensation Page. These special districts and JPAs were not studied for compensation transparency in 2011. Therefore, great improvement is expected next year. 3. Content & Clarity for the EMPLOYEE Compensation Cost Pates The rating scale descriptions.for CCT Content and Clarity for the EMPLOYEE Compensation Cost pages were as follows: " rw only ana rated exmllard wu Midway Chy Sanitary DtWiat. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 9 15 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY - L%i slims - Full total salary & benefits compensation cost disclosure is needed in a single table format, including Defined Benefit Plan Pension Costs. -Full lotal sakuy & benefits compensation cost disclosure is needed in a single table ,format, but Damned Benefit Plan Pension Costs were excluded -Full total salary disclosure is shown, but with just: 1) general text Memorandum of lhulerstanding (MOU) benefits, and/or 2) benefits scattered in multiple places; or 3) just benefit totals, and no details other than general text. 11 - Purr - Salary is shown in Minimum and Maximum Ranges by Position or by Classification & Step levels, and with just: 1) general TextualMOUBenefits; midlor 2) benefits scattered in multiple places; or 3) benefits not shown in absolute dollars for a position. P - Aone istent - Salary & benefit information could not be readily found ities - Last year in 2011, no cities were rated excellent for Employee Content and Clarity, as the focus for improvement was on the Executive Compensation Page. In contrast in 2012, only five cities (15 %) took the initiative to obtain an excellent rating for Content and Clarity for their Employee Compensation Page. While only one city's Employee Compensation Cost page is ❑oucxistent, twenty -one of the thirty -four cities (62 %) were rated pour for their Employee Compensation Cost page. Count - While the County has an excellent Executive Compensation Page, the County's Employee Compensation Page was rated at erai:r in 2012 for its more than 17,000 positions. Water & Sanitation Districts - Only one of the fifteen water & sanitation districts (7 %) was rated excellent for Content & Clarity on their Employee Compensation Page in 2012.16 They were not rated in 2011, but were provided with broad recommendations for their board's and general manager's CCT. However, taxpayers are starting to expect Orange County local governments to provide compensation information for all employees. Great improvement is expected in this area over the next year. Non - enterprise Special Districts, Transportation Special Districts & Joint Power Authority (JPA) - Only three special districts out of these eight Special Districts and JPA (38 %) were rated c u elle a this year for Content & Clarity for their Employee Compensation page. These special 1e The only me rated excellent was Midway City sanitary District 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 10 16 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY districts and JPAs were not studied for Compensation Transparency last year and significant improvement is expected. 2012 Compensation Cost Transparency Assessment Ratings Chart The 2012 Compensation Transparency Cost Assessment Ratings Chan for the County, and each individual Orange County city, water and sanitation district, non- enterprise special district and Joint Power Authority follows on the next pages as Table 1. Each entity's web page has been graded on 3 Compensation Cost Transparency aspects, as defined earlier and shown below in column headings #2, 3 and 4. Table 1 columnar headings, most of which are self - explanatory or have been defined earlier, are as follows. 1. City /District/Joint Power Authority (which also includes the County of Orange) 2. Accessibility Grade (for web site Access to CCT h formation) 3. Executive Page Grade (for content & clarity of CCT it formation) 4. Employee Pages Grade (for content & clarity of CCT information) 5. Areas of Strength 6. Areas for Improvement 7. Web Update since March — An opporfunity for governmental entities who previewed this report in May, 2012 to present a summary of any CCT web site updates to the Grand Jury, made since the February/March of 2012 grades. Otherwise, the status of any updates can be described in the normal official response letters, after this report is issued This year for 2012, the grading scale criteria were more objectively and precisely defined for clarity. These criteria are detailed on the first page of Table 1 that follows. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 11 17 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY TABLE 1 — 2012 Compensation Cost Transparency Assessment Ratings Chart Web Site Ratings Scale for Compensation Cost Transparency Grades 1. Accessibility Grades A = EXCELLENT - Primary link for Compensation Transparency on Home Page B = GOOD - .Secondan• link an Human Resources/Finance Page _ : \ \' 1: R ; \GE -Only Data access is link !o the ojf -site ,hate Controller's Page D = POOR - Data buried in Budget or other Data F = NONEXISTENT - No Compensation Data just Tent and No link on Web ,Site 11. Content & Clarity Grades A = EXCELLENT - Full Disclosure, including Defined Benefit Plan Pension Costs B = GOOD - Full Disc•hnure, but without Defined Benefir Plan Pension Costs Ir+ for Full Disclosure, but nrrh Ihftned lienifu Pension (IMP) C'u.q+ on separate pay;r, er jus7 the annual D11Pfunding percentage resealed neth no amounts C = AVERAGE - Ful/ Nalary Disclosure, with just General Textual ,b1UCr'* BeneItts and/or Benefits .scattered in multiple places, or Benefit Totals, but no details wher than General Teat D = POOR - .Salary Min/Afar Ranges by Position or Classification & Srep levels, with just General Textual MOU" Benefits, and/or with Benefits scattered in multiple places, or with Benefits not shown in absolute dollars for a position F = NONEXISTENT - No Salary or Benefit Data MOU - Memorandum of Understanding 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 12 18 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY TABLE 1— 2012 Compensation Cost Transparency Assessment Ratings Chart 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 13 19 City/ District / Access- Fxec. Employee Areas of Strenra Areas for Web Updates ihilkv Pages Joint Power Paee Improvement since March or. Au t orit Grade Grade Grade Mav Exit Interviews County 1 County of A A C Excellent Executive Employee Pages UPDATE Note ] - Orange Page & Excellent see end of table noic Accessibility Cities 1 Aliso Viejo A C D Excellent Employee Pages for n/a - Did not attend Accessibility Salaries and Benefits A/av exit interview 2 Anaheim A B B Excellent Employee Pages for Accessibility Salaries and Benefits 3 Brea A C C Excellent Accessibility 4 Buena Park A A A Excellent in all ways 5 Costa Mesa A A A Excellent in all ways 6 Cypress B D D Both Executive and Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 7 Dana Point A A D Excellent Executive Employee Pages for Page Salaries and Benefns 8 Fountain B F D Both Executive and n/a -Did not amend Valley Employee Pages for A4av exit interview Salaries and Benefits 9 Fullerton B A D Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 10 Garden A C D Excellent Employee Pages for Grove Accessibility Salaries and Benefits 11 Huntington B F B Executive Page for Beach Salaries and Benefits 12 Irvine A A D Excellent Employee Pages for UPDATE Note 2 - Accessibility Salaries and Benefits See end of table (rotes Excellent Exec Page 13 La Habra A A F Excellent Employee Pages Accessibility needs Compensation Excellent Exec. Page Costs & Benefits 14 La Palma A D D Excellent Both Executive and UPDATE Note 3 - Accessibility Employee Pages for See end of table notes Salaries and Benefits 15 Laguna A D D Excellent Both Executive and UPDATE Note 4 - Beach Accessibility Employee Pages for See end of table note: Salaries and Benefits 16 Laguna A D Excellent Employee Pages for Hills Accessibility Salaries and Benefits Exec Page needs Pension Costs 17 Laguna h D D Both Executive and n/a -Did not attend Niguel Employee Pages for A4av exit interview 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 13 19 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 14 NE Salaries and Benefits City /District/ ccess- Exec, Employee Areas of Strenxths Areas for Web Updates imI Pager Joint Power Page I mprovement since March Per AtrthoriN Gra d e G d Grade G Grade d May Exit Interviews 18 Laguna A A A Excellent In all ways Wa - Did not attend Woods Alav exit interview 19 Lake Forest A D Excellent Employee Pages for Accessibility Salaries and Benefits 20 Los i. D Employee Pages for nia -Did not attend Alamitos Salaries and Benefits Mav exit interview 21 Mission A D D Excellent Both Executive and Viejo Accessibility Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 22 Newport A C Excellent Beach Accessibility 23 Orange A C D Excellent Employee Pages for rca - Did not amend Accessibility Salaries and Benefits A* exit interview 24 Placentia A A A Excellent in all ways 25 Rancho A A D Excellent Employee Pages for Santa Accessibility Salaries and Benefits Excellent Executive Margarita Page 26 San A A D Excellent Employee Pages for Clemente Accessibility Salaries and Benefits Excellent Executive Page 27 San Juan A A D Excellent Employee Pages for UPDATE Note S- Capistrano Accessibility Salaries and Benefits See end of table notes Excellent Executive Page 28 Santa Ana B B D Employee Pages for UPDATE Note 6 - Salaries and Benefits See end oftable notes 29 Seal Beach B A D Excellent Executive Employee Pages for Page Salaries and Benefits 30 Stanton A A D Excellent Employee Pages for n,n - Did not attend Accessibility Salaries and Benefits Alav exit interview Excellent Executive Page 31 Tustin A D Excellent Employee Pages for Accessibility Salaries and Benefits 32 Villa Park A ; C Excellent n/a - Did not attend Accessibility Mav exn interview 33 Westminster F D Both Executive and n1a - Did rot attend Employee Pages for Alav ent astenwo, Salaries and Benefits 34 Yorba Linda A A A Excellent in all ways 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 14 NE COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 15 21 city /District/ Access. Exec. Employee Areas of Strengths Areas for Web Updates ibilil`' Pages Joint Power Paee Improvement since March per Author Grade §rIdt Grade May Exitlnterviews 5aeciol Districts Water and s 1 Costa Mesa A B+ B+ Excellent Exact pensions are Sanitary Accessibility on separate list. Add exact pensions to chart and total 2 East OC A C C Excellent Need chart w/ other r ✓a -Did not attend Water Accessibility pay, Insurance, exact Alayexit interview, pension cost & total 3 El Toro A C F Excellent Employee Page Chart UPDATE Note 7 - Water Accessibility needed for Salaries & sea end of table notes Benefits 4 Irvine Ranch A D D Excellent Both Executive and Water Accessibility Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 5 Mesa A D D Excellent Both Executive and UPDATE Note g - Consolidated Accessibility Employee Pages for Sce end of table notes Water Salaries and Benefits 6 Midway A A A Excellent in all ways City Sanitary 7 Moulton A D D Excellent Both Executive and Niguel Accessibility Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits Water 8 Municipal D D D Have listing on home Both Executive and Water Dist. page, but does not Employee Pages for of OC list Information In an Salaries and Benefits accessible format. 9 Orange A D D Excellent Both Executive and UPDATE Note 9 - County Accessibility Employee Pages for Sec end of table notes Salaries and Benefits Sanitation 10 Orange A D D Excellent Both Executive and UPDATE Note 10 County Accessibility Employee Pages for See end of table trots, Salaries and Benefits Water 11 Santa C F F Both Executive and rva- Didnotattend Margarita Employee Pages for May exit interview, Salaries and Benefits Water 12 Serrano A B B Excellent Water Accessibility 13 South Coast A D D Excellent Both Executive and Water Accessibility Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 14 Trabuco C D D Both Executive and Wa -Did not attend Canyon Employee Pages for Alay exit interview Water Salaries and Benefits 15 Yorba Unda B D D Both Executive and Water Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 15 21 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Legend: • N/A = Not Applicable 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 16 22 City /District/ Access- Enrti Emolovee Areas of Streneths Areas for Web Updates MIA Eaxes Joint Power Em Improvement since March oer Authority Grade Grade Grade Mav Exit Interviews Special Districts - Non Enterprise 1 Buena Park A A A Excellent in all ways Library 2 Orange A D D Excellent Both Executive and UPDATE Note 11 County Accessibility Employee Pages for See end ofuble notes Salaries and Benefits Cemetery 3 Orange Co. F F F Accessibility, plus wa - Did not attend Vector Both Executive and May exit interview, Control Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 4 Placentia A A A Excellent in all ways Library 5 Rossmoor D F F Accessibility, plus a/a -Did nor attend Community Both Executive and May exit interview Service Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits 6 Silverado- A N /A* A Excellent in all ways n/a -Did not attend Modjeska May exit interview Recreation & Parks Sped°1 istrkt - Transport 1 OCTA - A h B Excellent Need to report Orange Accessibility Retirement Plan contribution County amounts as a stand - Transpor- alone Rem for full tation transparency, not Authority bundled Joint Power 490-0—rlu 1 OCFA - P D D Both Executive and Orange Employee Pages for Salaries and Benefits County Fire Authority Legend: • N/A = Not Applicable 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 16 22 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Table 1 WEB UPDATE NOTES from May, 2012 Exit Interviews on web changes since March, 2012: 1- The County of Orange subsequently submitted a spreadsheet of salary and benefit information for over 17,000 employees for 2011 that they prepared for a Public Records Act response to a request submitted by the Bay Area News Group, an organization of Northern California newspapers. The OC Register requested to receive the same information once it was released to the original requestor. It appears quite complete and the County of Orange will post this compensation information on the County's web site as their Employee Compensation Cost pages for the public to see as well. It appears be quite complete. 2- The City of Irvine reported that their Employee page was subsequently posted on their City Compensation Page, using the Orange County Grand Jury suggested format. It appears to be quite complete. 3. The City of La Palma reported that their website was updated in early May to reflect the Grand Jury's requests. They submitted a copy of the City of La Palma 2011 Compensation Report and it appears to be quite complete. 4. The City of Laguna Beach reported that they have added a table to the compensation pages to include Defined Benefit Plan Pension Costs and a Total Salary and Benefits column for all employees. It appears to be quite complete. S. The City of San Juan Capistrano reported that they have added employee compensation pages to their website. It appears quite complete. 6. The City of Santa Ana reported that data has been compiled for their Employee pages and will be posted on their website in May, 2012. 7. The El Toro Water District reported that it has updated its website to include all compensation, including pension for the GM, in table form. They report that they do not offer a defined benefit plan, so there are no pension costs to disclose. 8. The Mesa Consolidated Water District reported that Executive Compensation is on the website, as are Employee Salary Ranges and Title. May, 2012 report recommendations are being implemented. 9. The Orange County Sanitation District reported that their Compensation Cost website had been updated. 10. The Orange County Water District reports that additional information has been added to their website. The information that was on the website in March under "Human Resources" and is now under "Transparency." 11. The Orange County Cemetery District reported an upgrade to their Salary and Benefit Summary that they brought in for review. It appears quite complete. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 17 23 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Recognition of Excellence in Compensation Cost Transparency (CCT) — To recognize achievement of excellence in Compensation Cost Transparency, Appendix A contains the 2012 ::oid. Silver and Bronze Honor Rolls. Listed are Orange County cities, special districts/JPAs and the County of Orange. Appendix A also has the 2012 list of Most Potential for Improvement. These four lists are described below. mold Ilonof )toil is for cities & special districts providing outstanding overall CCT access, content & clarity in government for their citizens. Straight "A" (excellent) ratings in all three CCT categories of Accessibility, Executive Content & Clarity and Employee Content & Clarity for 2012 were achieved by all listed. 2. Silver Ilonor Roll is for cities & special districts providing excellent executive CCT in government for their citizens. "A' (excellent) ratings in the two categories of Accessibility & Executive Content & Clarity for 2012 were achieved by all listed. 3. Bronze Ilonor Roll is for cities & special districts providing excellent CCT accessibility in government for their citizens. "A" (excellent) rating in the one category of Accessibility for 2012 were achieved by all listed. 4. Most Potential for Improvement List for the cities & special districts in CCT. This potential for improvement was demonstrated by receiving one 2012 "F" (nonexistent) rating in at least one of the three CCT categories of Accessibility, Executive Content & Clarity or Employee Content & Clarity. Non - Transparent Compensation Costs Funding Guaranteed Pensions Current fiscal pressures accentuate the need for more pension cost information. Public demand is building for transparent reporting of unfunded pension liabilities in more detail. The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is addressing the unfunded pension liability issue at the macro level. 17 GASB would mandate the movement of the unfunded pension liability from an informational footnote to a liability on the balance sheet as early as 2013. Private industry Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has mandated this practice for years and upgraded their balance sheet pension liability reporting with FASB Statement 158 in 2006.18 A real lack of transparency of reporting the annual government dollar costs to fund guaranteed pensions appears at the emplovee.position pension level. Why? 17 GASB Postemployment Benefit Accounting and Financial Reporting Project, scheduled for statement release June, 2012. www, ansh.orc 1a "FASB adopts New Pension Std.," 1013/2006, hue: accounline.smanmos.com O W7 =I & htlo:C %Z w.fash,orzsumn a ,stsuml %shtml 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 18 24 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Last year, the 2010 -2011 Grand Jury asked for pension costs (i.e., the amounts that the city pays for contributions to a pension plan, such as PERS and Social Security) to be reported in their annual compensation cost disclosures. The county and some cities did, and many did not. The ones who did were: • The County of Orange reported pension costs on their Executive page. • The city governments that provided excellent executive pension cost transparency by apparently reporting pension costs on their Executive pages were: • Dana Point • Fullerton • Irvine • La Habra • Rancho Santa Margarita • San Clemente • San Juan Capistrano • Stanton. The cities who apparently went a step further and reported pension costs for all their employees and executives, to provide excellent maximum transparency for their citizens were: o Buena Park o Costa Mesa o Laguna Woods o Placentia o Yorba Linda. The current focus of the California State Controller website does not yet reflect pension compensation costs. So pension costs for defined benefit plans (DBPs) currently go unreported on the state's local government's compensation site. The formula for the DBPs pension benefits is shown instead. The state site reports the shorthand formula for the DBP pension benefit. However the formula is cryptic and the formula is not translated to the government's cost of funding it. A citizen can view the benefit formula shorthand notation that shows at what age the employee can collect what percentage of their last year's pay for every year of service. The pension benefit formula is often not understood by the average citizen unless they are already familiar with the formula shorthand notation. An explanation is offered here with an example below. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 19 25 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY The pension formula for Officer Jane Doe, a public safety employee, is shown as "3 % @50" The -3%@50" means that Officer Jane Doe can retire when 50 years old and collect 3% of her last year's pay, which is multiplied by each year of her public service. More specifically, that would mean when she obtained 50 years of age and if she had 30 years of public service, that Officer Jane Doe could collect 90% of her last year's pay for the rest of her life (30 yrs x 3 %). If her annual pay from her last year(s) or highest year was $100,000, then her pension annual payment would be $90,000 for the rest of her life, plus cost of living allowances, if applicable. The annual cost by the government of building up the funds for this pension is not shown on the California State Controller's web site for this employee's position level The state site does not currently focus on the government's compensation costs of the guaranteed pension, but just on the benefit formula of the employee's guaranteed pension. This may change in the future, as described in the "Future Potential for California's Local Government Pension Cost Reporting" section. Sienificance of Local Government's Cost of Funding Guaranteed Pension Benefits Taxpayer and ratepayer dollars fund public pensions In many local governments, but not all, taxpayers are obligated to pay government workers' guaranteed pension benefits as promised through collective bargaining agreements. What is the range of the compensation costs of defined benefit plans? The range of pension fund investment annual payments that Orange County local governments make for their General employees (officially classified as "miscellaneous" in pension plans) is from 9% to 28% of salaries. For Public Safety employees, that include fire, police, probation and lifeguards, the range is from 20% to 48% of salaries. Appendices B and C list these percentage amounts owed to CalPERS or OCERS annually by each local government entity. Are these government current compensation costs for a future benefit significant? Should pension funding amounts by employee positions be reported to the public, even though they are not current taxable compensation to the employee? Since local governmental annual investment payments range from 9% to 48% of salary, they are significant for taxpayer citizens to know. Taxpayer and ratepayer dollars fund these dollar amounts now to cover future pension obligations for employees, and are real and significant costs of government employment. Future Potential for California's Local Government Pension Cost Reporting The government's portion of guaranteed pension annual costs currently go unreported on the California State Controller's local government compensation reporting site That has been due to different objectives. We understand this may change in the near future. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 20 99 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY To reduce the workload and simplify different reporting requirements for Orange County local governments, the 2011 -2012 Grand Jury has had a continuing dialogue with the State Controller's office about the inclusion of pension costs. Specifically, the discussions were with the California State Controller's Bureau of Local Government Policy and Reporting. This unit of the State Controller's office is embarking on the requirements phase for new database software to replace the annual influx of approximately 5,000 Excel spreadsheets. The State Controller's office has considered the potential inclusion of requesting local governments to report Pension Costs for Defined Benefit Plans (DBPs) in their future minimum requirements. Informally, they have relayed to the 2011 -2012 Grand Jury that they plan to include pension costs of DBPs in their reporting requirements for local government reporting in 2013, as part of the "burden cost of compensation." The new software implementation is initially planned to include pension cost data in the second phase. They stated that they would formally document their intentions to the Grand Jury in the near term. Orange County citizens would benefit from being able to access DBP pension annual funding costs by employee/position on local web sites as soon as possible in the spirit of full transparency. Why wait? This information would appear to be too significant to ignore. Why just provide only the bare minimum in compensation cost transparency reporting, as required by the State Controller, when full transparency would benefit Orange County citizens now? Need for Local Government Website Reporting of Compensation Cost Reporting Compensation cost reporting is preferably shown on the local government website for ease of citizen use and because the data will be the latest available. At the State Controller's level, the local government reporting information can be from one to two years late due to the multiple fiscal years that the State has to address for the approximately 5,000 local governments. Taxpaying citizens deserve to see the costs of funding guaranteed pensions clearly displayed at the employee position level now. The exceptional and commendable Orange County cities and districts that appear to include pension cost amounts in their Executive and Em I2ovee compensation costs in 2012 are: o Buena Park o Costa Mesa o Laguna Woods o Placentia o Yorba Linda o Midway Sanitary District 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 21 27 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY • Buena Park Library District • Placentia Library District. Costa Mesa was recognized by the national Sunshine Review, a nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency. They were awarded a national 2012 Sunny Award for doing an exemplary job at proactively disclosing information to taxpayers. 19 They were the only government in California to receive an "A +" grade from the Sunshine Review. They set a good transparency example. Costa Mesa solicits their citizens to send in additional ideas about how they can improve their transparency at www ci costa -mesa ca/transparency /. The exceptional and commendable Orange County governments that appear to include these pension costs on their Executive Compensation cost page in 2012 are the County of Orange 2" and the cities of • Dana Point • Fullerton o Irvine • La Habra • Rancho Santa Margarita • San Clemente • San Juan Capistrano • Stanton " For sward infomation. see bent, wnshi0o<vww.a4ndea oho:012. %: \wad.. s0 The salaries and benefits for the County or0rangc 12 top elected officials ere shown on Sunshine Review's national wabsite at hno' . WNhlnaeslew.a4Indcz.DM (karlQC Count- cmolovec salariex with reference to the 3100 employees who make over 5150.000 in total compenation of salaries and benefits ( including pension crops). The reporting is excerpted am the County's eloped and executive compensation web page, as recurmnended by lap year's 2010.2011 OC (had Jury, providing a good leadership example for OC cities & special districts to follow. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 22 9 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Signs of the Public's Need to see Pension Costs at the Employee Position Level Recent signs of the public's increasing need to have pension costs reported at the Employee Pension level include the following examples. • Orange County Register's March 20, 2012 article on "Public pensions evolving at local level" which had to rely on survey data, not actual local governmental Pension Cost data, stated the following: "Specifically, the recent League of California Cities survey that showed that 48% of California cities have reduced pension benefits, for new hires. "'f The building block for this Pension Cost information would naturally be at the Employee Position level, like transparent Salary and other Benefits are, but alas it is not yet generally available nor yet reported at that level. The survey covered only the California cities that contract with CaIPERS. As a result, only 321 of California's 482 cities responded. Reporting Pension Costs per employee position on a regular basis is topical and needed for transparent local government. • USA Today's March 12, 2012 article on "In Too marry places, public pensions remain private" which stated the following: "Even in states (California Florida, New Jersey and New York) where pension data are public, they're often tough to find Jf a newspaper or a public interest group hasn't put the information online, people must file written requests to obtain it All states could take a cue from New Jersey where pension data are posted and easily searchable online. ,22 The USA Today article concluded: "Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. But when it comes to public pensions, it's going to take a big push for transparency before that happens everywhere. • The California -based Little Hoover Commission issued a comprehensive report in February, 2011 on "Public Pensions for Retirement Security" that recommended: 71 "NWic pauiow evolving of 1ocni Leval," Orange Cowdy Repuer, Much 20, 2012, local, OC Watchdog, p.1 "-In I" nvwj• plea, prb6e pemtow rtnviwpnwo." LISA Today, Much 12.2012. p.8A n [bid. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 23 M] COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY "To improve transparency and accountability, more information about pension costs must be provided regularly to the public. "'' Specifically recommended was that "The Legislature must require pension fund administrators to improve procedures for detecting and alerting the public about unusually high salary increases of government officials that will push pension costs upward "'3 A more expedient local method of educating the Orange County public would be to include Pension Costs at the Employee Position level on the Orange County local government websites today in transparent compensation cost reporting. This would let Orange County local governments potentially lead in pension cost transparency, as the County of Orange has done. One third of Orange County cities have already stepped out front and done so, and others are expected to do so as well. Financial pressures are starting to force local governments to make hard choices. Good clear transparent information reporting is needed to make informed choices. Informed citizens can then understand and support future actions. FINDING S /CONCLUSIONS In accordance with California Penal Code Sections 933 and 933.05, the 2011 -2012 Grand Jury requires responses from each city, special district, joint power authority, as well as the County of Orange and OCERS, affected and named by the findings presented in this section. The responses should address the specific situation of the governmental entity responding. The responses are to be submitted to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, with a copy to the Orange County Grand Jury. A list of which governments are required to respond to which of the findings are summarized in Tables 2 and 3. These tables can be found in a later section entitled REQUIREMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS. Based upon the assessment of 58 websites of the County of Orange, 34 OC cities, 15 OC water and sanitation districts, 6 OC non - enterprise special districts, 1 transportation special district and 1 OC Joint Power Authority, the 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury has five principal findings. "PuW Pemlom for Rerhemom seeuriry.- I Jule Hoover Commission. Stns of Califomia. February, 2011, Exewfive Summary, Ibc_u @id 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 24 M COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Finding I (F1) - Accessibility Ratings for Cities, Special Districts and JPAs Accessibility to Compensation Costs for Orange County cities web -sites experienced 92% improvement this year, but there is still room for improvement at some cities. Accessibility to Compensation Costs on Orange County websites for districts and joint power authority (JPA) has room for improvement, even though 70% were rated cArc! Icnt o it' There was a 92% improvement in CCT Accessibility from the thirteen cities rated excellent in 2011 compared to twenty -five cities were rated excellent in 2012- Yet there is still room for improvement for the remaining nine of thirty- four Orange County cities who received a rating of in 2012 to achieve excellen(, in CCT Accessibility. o Special Districts and Joint Power Authority UPA): Sixteen of the twenty -three special districts/joint power authority (70 %) were rated cm—llew in 2012 for CCT Accessibility. This was a very good showing in their first year of being rated However, seven of the twenty -three special districts /joint power authority were rated ^i!. ;:� ,,i�t . pour and nonexistent for CCT Accessibility, all of whom could improve to ex, eut:u. Finding 2 (F2) — Content & Clarity Ratings for EXECUTIVE Compensation Cost Content and Clarity for the OC cities elected officials and executives over $100,000 in base salary is improving in this 2 "d year of ratings. On the other hand, there is understandably even more potential improvement possible for the Special Districts and joint power authority, which are in their l° year of ratings. o County: The County of Orange went from a nonexistent Executive Compensation Page in 2011 to one rated excellent in 2012 for Content and Clarity. o iie: This year in 2012, fourteen of thirty -four cities (41 %) were rated excellent for Executive CCT Content and Clarity, while none were rated excellent in 2011. However, twenty of the thirty -four cities were rated, ... I - I , pour and nonexistent for Executive Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 25 31 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY whom could improve to excellent. o Special Districts and Joint Power Authority UP& Only three of twenty -three special districts/JPA (13 %) were rated,, � eel leu i for Executive Compensation Cost Content and Clarity. ■ Nineteen of twenty -three special districts /JPA who received ratings of ,(. . . poor and nonexistent for Executive Compensation Cost can improve to achieve an excellent rating.26 Finding 3 (173) - Content & Clarity for EMPLOYEE Compensation Cost Ratings There is the most opportunity for more transparent reporting in the Content and Clarity of Employee Compensation Cost reporting on local government websites. o County: The County of Orange was rated excellent above for their Executive Compensation Page Content and Clarity. However, the County of Orange was only rated r::9 p for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity and could improve to achieve an excellent rating. o Cities: Only five ofthirty -four cities (15 %) were rated excellent for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity. ■ Twenty -nine of the thirty -four cities were rated l000d, aver, ge. poor and nonexistent for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of whom could improve to excetie.: o Special Districts and Joint Power Authority (JPA) Only four of twenty -three special districts and joint power authority (17 %) were rated cs� 0 1erit for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity. ■ Nineteen of the twenty -three special districts /JPA were rated J)001' and nonexistent for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of whom could improve to excellent. 'a One of the 23 special districts /3PAs was rated "Not Applimble" due to their volunteer executive board and no paid executives. (3 +19 +1 -23). 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 26 32 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Finding 4 (F4) — Transparency of Emplover Pension Contribution Rates Many Orange County local government web sites do not generally post their employer pension annual contribution rates prominently to their web sites as part of their compensation cost disclosure for public disclosure. Specifically, these employer contribution percentages refer to the annual percentages of employee salary that CaIPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) or OCERS (Orange County Employee Retirement System) requires of Orange County local governments to fund their employee guaranteed pension plans. OCERS has the employer pension contribution rates buried in detailed actuarial reports and presentations on the OCERS website or requires member passwords to access these annual governmental funding rates. Thus, there is limited transparency for the public of these governmental pension contribution rates. Findine 5 (F5) — Inclusion of Overtime and On -Call Pay in Emvlovee Compensation Costs The Orange County "de facto' standard for CCT in the county, cities, districts and JPA now contains all employees, including a page for executives and all elected officials. Two key categories are missing from compensation cost reporting. They are overtime pay and on- call pay. They have become important as the new "de facto' compensation cost reporting standard which now includes all employees. These two cost categories can be significant for public safety employees. However, it is recognized that these cost categories generally do not apply to elected officials. On the other hand, if overtime does not occur for various employee positions, it is important for citizens to be aware of the aware of that in the annual reporting. RECOMMENDATIONS In accordance with California Penal Code Sections 933 and 933.05, the 2011 -2012 Grand Jury requires responses from each city, special district, joint power authority, as well as County of Orange and OCERS, affected and listed in Tables 2 and 3 that follows The responses are to be submitted to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, with a copy to the Orange County Grand Jury. Based upon the assessment of 58 websites of the County of Orange, 34 OC cities, 15 OC Water and Sanitation Districts, 6 OC Non - Enterprise Special Districts, 1 transportation special district and I OC joint power authority, the 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury has five principal recommendations 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 27 33 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Recommendation 1 (RI) - Access for Compensation Costs Transuarenc The Grand Jury recommends that each of the sixteen Orange County cities, districts and joint power authority that were rated less than e \ccllcoi for Accessibility upgrade their access to compensation costs. The access should be intuitive, readily identifiable on the web site home page and provide easy navigation within one or very few "clicks." Recommendation 2 (R2) - Content & Clarity of EXECUTIVE Compensation Costs - The Grand Jury recommends that each of the forty -one of the fifty-seven Orange County cities, districts and joint power authority that were rated less than ( XCc ew for their Content and Clarity for their Executive and Elected Officials compensation costs page upgrade their Executive Compensation Pape. See Appendix D for a suggested full disclosure model which is the same as 2011 with expanded descriptions, but with particular emphasis on pension costs. Recommendation 3 (R3) - Content & Clarity of EMPLOYEE Compensation Costs - The Grand Jury recommends that the County of Orange and all Orange County cities, districts and joint power authority that were rated less than [ Accllcnr for Content and Clarity for their Employee compensation costs pages upgrade their Employee pages. See Appendix D for a suggested full disclosure model which is the same as 2011 with the addition of overtime pay, on -call pay and expanded descriptions, with particular emphasis on pension costs. Recommendation 4 (R4) - Transparency of Emnlover Pension Contribution Rates - The Grand Jury recommends that all Orange County cities, districts and joint power authority, as well as the County of Orange, post their employer pension annual contribution rates prominently and transparently on their web sites. Current and recent rates would be instructive and informative. It is recognized that some already do. The Grand Jury recommends that OCERS display their member organizations annual contribution rates in a transparent way to the general public without password access on their web site. For a suggested model, see http. //caipers.ca.cov and enter "public agency employer contribution search." Recommendation 5 (R5) - Transparency of Overtime Pay and On -Call Pay in Employee Compensation Cost Reporting — The Grand Jury recommends that all Orange County cities, districts and joint power authority, as well as the County of Orange, include overtime pay and on -call pav in compensation cost reporting on their employees' compensation pages. See Appendix D for a suggested full disclosure model for these new compensation cost reporting categories. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 28 34 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS The California Penal Code Section 933(c) requires any public agency which the Grand Jury has reviewed, and about which it has issued a final report, to comment to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court on the findings and recommendations pertaining to matters under the control of the agency Such comment shall be made no later than 90 da'vs after the Grand Jury publishes its report (filed with the Clerk of the Court); except that in the case of a report containing findings and recommendations pertaining to a department or agency headed by an elected County official (e.g. District Attorney, Sheriff, etc.), such comment shall be made within 60 dais to the Presiding Judge with an information copy sent to the Board of Supervisors. Furthermore, California Penal Code Section 933.05(a), (b), (c), details, as follows, the manner in which such comment(s) is to be made: As to each grand jury finding, the responding person or entity shall indicate one of the following a. The respondent agrees with the finding. b. The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding, in which case the response shall specify the portion of the finding that is disputed and shall include an explanation of the reasons therefore. 2. As to each grand jury recommendation, the responding person or entity shall report one of the following actions: a. The recommendation has been implemented, with a summary regarding the implemented action. b. The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, with a time frame for implementation c The recommendation requires further analysis, with an explanation and the scope and parameters of an analysis or study, and a time frame for the matter to be prepared for discussion by the officer or head of the agency or department being investigated or reviewed, including the governing body of the public agency when applicable. This time frame shall not exceed six months from the date of publication of the grand jury report. d The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or is not reasonable, with an explanation therefore 3. However, if a finding or recommendation of the grand jury addresses budgetary or personnel matters of a county agency or department headed by an elected officer, both the agency or department head and the Board of Supervisors shall respond if requested by 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 29 35 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY the grand jury, but the response of the Board of Supervisors shall address only those budgetary or personnel matters over which it has some decision making authority. The response of the elected agency or department head shall address all aspects of the findings or recommendations affecting his or her agency or department. Comments to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court in compliance with Penal Code section 933.05 are requested from the County of Orange Executive Office, Human Resources and required from each city council of the cities set forth in Table 2 and Board of Directors of each legislative, special assessing and joint power agency in Table 3, with a copy to the Orange County Grand Jury. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 30 M COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY TABLE 2— County & Cities Responses Required for Findings (F) & Recommendations (R) 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 31 37 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Cou County of Orange X X X X X X 01511 Aliso Viejo X X X X X X X X Anaheim I X I X X X X X X X Brea x X X X X X X X Buena Park X X X x Costa Mesa X X X X Cypress X X X X X X X x X x Dana Point X X X X X x Fountain Valley X X X X X X X X X X Fullerton X I X X X X X X X Garden Grove X X X X X X X X Huntington Beach X X X X X X X X X X Irvine X X X x X X La Habra X X X X X X La Palma X X X X X X X X Laguna Beach X X X X X X X X Laguna Hills X X X X X X X X Laguna Niguel X I X I X. X X X X X X X Laguna Woods X I X X X Lake Forest X X X X X X X x Los Alamitos X X X x X X X X X X Mission Viejo X X X X X X X X Newport Beach X X X X X X X X Orange X X X X X X X X Placentia I I X X x X Rancho Santa Margarita X X X X X x San Clemente X X X X X x San Juan Capistrano X X X X X X Santa Ana X X X X X X X X X X Seal Beach X X X X X X X X Stanton x x x x x x Tustin X X X X X x X X Villa Park X X X X X X X X Westminster X X X X X X X X X X Yorba Linda X X X X 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 31 37 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY TABLE 3— Special DIstlicts/JPAs /OCERS Responses Required for Findings (F) & Recommendations (R) 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 32 m F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Special Districts - Water and Sanitation Costa Mesa Sanitary X X X X X X X X East Orange County Water X X X X X X X X El Toro Water X X X X X X X X Irvine Ranch Water X X x X I X X X X Mesa Consolidated Water X X X X X X X X Midway City Sanitary x X X X Moulton Niguel Water x X X X X X X X Municipal Water District of OC X X X X X X X X X X Orange County Sanitation x X X X X x x X Orange County Water X X X X X X X X Santa Margarita Water X I x X I X I X X X X X X Serrano Water x X X X X X X x South Coast Water X X X X X X X X Trabuco Canyon Water X X X X X X X X x X Yorba Linda Water X X X X X X X X X X Special Districts - Non Enterprise Buena Park Library X I X X X Orange County Cemetery X X x X X X X X Orange County Vector Control X X x x X X X X X X Placentia Library x X X x Rossmoor Community Service X X X x X X X X X X Silverado - Modjeska Recreation & Parks I X X Special District - Transportation OCTA - Orange County Transportation Authority x X X X X X X X Joint Power Authorities _ OCFA - Orange County Fire Authority X X X x X X X X X X Legislative District OCERS - Orange County Employees Retirement System x X 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 32 m COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDICES 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand fury Page 33 39 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX A — Compensation Cost Transparency Honor Rolls - Page I of 3 The 20l2,.'--: r ,:,; _ Poi I for supplying the best CCT in government for their citizens applies to the following cities and special districts. They all received straight "A" ratings in an 3 categories of Accessibility, Content & Clarity for Elected/ Executive and Employee compensation. l iiir; - Y Buena Park Y Costa Mesa ➢ Laguna Woods ➢ Placentia ➢ Yorba Linda �jwcial Districts - ➢ Buena Park Library District ➢ Midway Sanitary District ➢ Placentia Library District The 2012 Silver honor Roll for supplying excellent CCT in government for their citizens applies to the following county, cities and special districts at the Executive & Elected official level. The county and cities below all received "A" ratings in 2 categories of Executive Accessibility and Content & Clarity. The special district below received an "A" rating in the 2 categories of Employee Accessibility and Content & Clarity, as they have no Executive page Count ➢ County of Orange Cities Y Dana Point ➢ Irvine Y La Habra Y Rancho Santa Margarita ➢ San Clemente ➢ San Juan Capistrano ➢ Stanton ;iaecial Districts - ➢ Silverado-Modjeska Recreation & Parks District 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 34 40 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX A — Compensation Cost Transparency honor Rolls - Page 2 of 3 The 2012 Bronze Honor Roll for supplying excellent CCT accessibility in government for their citizens applies to the following cities, special districts and joint power authorities. They all received "A" ratings in Accessibility. Cii - ➢ Aliso Viejo r Anaheim Brea i Garden Grove i La Palma 'r Laguna Beach 'o Laguna Hills Y Lake Forest Mission Viejo r Newport Beach r Orange r Tustin Villa Park Suecial Districts - 'r Costa Mesa Sanitary District :> East Orange County Water District i- El Toro Water District Irvine Ranch Water District r Mesa Consolidated Water District ;w Moulton Niguel Water District Orange County Cemetery District r Orange County Sanitation District r Orange County Transportation Authority Orange County Water District r Serrano Water District South Coast Water District 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 35 41 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX A — Compensation Cost Transparency Honor Rolls - Page 3 of 3 The 2012 Most Potential for Improvement List in local government compensation cost transparency applies to the following cities and special districts. They received at least one "F" in one or more of the three categories Cities - � Fountain Valley Huntington Beach La Habra Westminster El Toro Water District Orange County Vector Control District Rossmoor Community Service District Santa Margarita Water District 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 36 42 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX B: Cal PERS (Camiumin Puhlic F.mnluree Rruremrnt mocito EmD lover Contribution 2011 Rates- % of Current Employee Payroll that the Employer must contribute to COMERS in 2011 Cities General Safety Safety -Fire Safety- Police Aliso Viejo 9.539% Anaheim 20.389% 29.228% 30.623% Brea 11.219% 30.347% Buena Park 14.700% 25.821 %* Costa Mesa 16.583% 32.404% 29.063% Cypress 12.222% 32.407 %* Dana Point 10.059% Fountain Valley 17.800% - 1" Tier< 28.859% - 1" Tier< Fullerton 11.119% 30.2% Garden Grove 17.854% 33.178% Huntington Beach 15.311% 34.196% Irvine 21.733% 32.678% La Habra 11.752% 31.962% La Palma 14.762% 25.821 %* Laguna Beach 15.258% 21.252 % - Lifeguard 24.112%A 24.112%A Laguna Hills 11.271% Laguna Niguel 10.539% Laguna Woods 10.896% Lake Forest 12.170% Los Alamitos 10.748% 25.21 %* Mission Viejo 16.361% Newport Beach 12.208% 35.028 %> Orange 18.646% 29.613% Placentia 9.548% 44.581 %* Rancho Santa Margarita 16.497% - I" Tier< San Clemente # 32.546 % - Lifeguard Santa Ana 18.373% 28.848% Seal Beach 9.313% 25.821%* Stanton 13.523% Tustin 9.943% 32.17 %* Villa Park 20.046% Westminster 14.494% 25.821°/x,* Yorba Linda 13.996% '• CaIPERS • Ilrtg_ w���r 4��y,�a ¢v� +InJes un'Ibc- emolvvcrn�huarSll•tuch cawrMrun raf shame xml 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 37 43 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY Appendix 8 Notes Le¢end: * OCFA notes that these *rates of OCFA serviced cities apply only to non -fire safety employees < Second Tier Levels in effect currently - Second Tier level for Fountain Valley General Employees is 8.902% & 20.308% for Police Second Tier level for Rancho Santa Margarita General Employees is 8.704% > A Future Second Tier Level was approved in May, 2012 by Newport Beach for Firefighters that will go into effect in 2014 that will have Newport Beach "paying 80% of pension costs annually instead of the 94% annually they are currently contributing.... It will take 18 months for the new contribution percentages to take effect. "2B ^ Laguna Beach has subsequently implemented a second tier for public safety officers # Administered by Great -West Retirement Services for San Clemente non - safety employees "-Newport Beach firefighters to pay more of pensions ", Orange County Register, May 25, 2012, Local, Government, p.9. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 38 44 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY API, ENDI% C: OCERS ton ee cuunn EmN,.r•es RrW@ ment Scsiem) Employer Contribution 2012 -2013 Rates 29 % of('urrent Eniplo vee Pa}-roll that F.mphner must contribute to 0(-E16 in Fiscal Year 2013 Representative OCERS Examples and not a Comprehensive ItstinY City General Safety San Juan Capistrano (2.7%@SS) —Rate Group #2 28.39% (2.0 % @57) — Rate Group #2 27.49% County Special Districts Orange County Cemetery District (2_0 %�la 55) Rate Group #11 17.76% Orange County Sanitation District— OCSD (1.664%@5 .,) Rate Group #3 26.69% (2.5%@55) Rate Group #3 27.47% Orange County Transportation Authority— OCTA Rate Group #5 20.96% Joint Power Authority Orange County Fire Authority — OCFA (2.7 % @55) Rate Groups #10 27.99% (2.0% @55) Rate Group #10 27.25% (3.0%@5 ) Rate Group #8 45.46% (3.0 %, @55) Rate Group #8 42.22% Countv of Orange General — Rate Group #1 16.85% General (1..62 % @65) Rate Group #2 21.94% General (2.7 % @55) Rate Group #2 28.39% Law Enforcement (3.0% @50) Rate Group #7 47.45% (3_O%!q @55) Rate Group #7 46.78% Probation (3.0%@S ) Rate Group #6 36.29% °U('l; 2C :0 /( /;trmm�nl I'aluannn and /[....... I, '11w S,pl Group. In, 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand jury Page 39 45 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX D - Compensation Cost Disclosure Model - Page 1 of 2 POSITION SALARY OVER- OTHER INSURANCE PENSION TOTAL TIME PAY* PREMIUMS COSTS COMP. COSTS * Other Pay Includes Fees, Deferred Pay in Lieu of Time Off and On -Call Pay. (RED mgmfic> iw%% in -1012) 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 40 46 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX D - Compensation Cost Disclosure Model - Page 2 of 2 In the interest of consistency and clarity in the disclosure of compensation cost data for local government officials and employees, the 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury developed a model table on the previous page, which could be posted onto the Internet websites of local governments in Orange County. The 2011-2012 Orange County Grand Jury has enhanced and expanded the applicability of the model for clarity, emphasis and scope, as local websites have evolved. The fundamental elements of the model on the websites would provide the following. • Accessibility - The link from the home page to the compensation cost web page be a permanent feature, which is prominently displayed on the home page, as both self - descriptive and intuitive, requiring very minimal keystrokes for access. • Positions Reported - All elected officials and those executive positions earning a base salary rate in excess of $100.000 per year should be reported on an Executive Compensation Pape Elected officials should be listed first, followed by employees in descending order of salary The salaries and benefits for all employee positions should be posted in a standard table on a separate on the Employee Compensation Pages Note The listing of names is not recommended on the compensation cost listings of employee position salaries and benefits, but is preferable for elected officials. • Salary Reporting -- The actual or annualized base rate of salary for the position should be shown, rather than minimum & maximum ranges or the employee's W -2 form Box 5 amount Overtime Pay - Actual overtime pay by employee position • Other Pay • Fees - Fees earned from reporting agency- sponsored boards, committees or commissions • Deferred Compensation • Bonus - Any form of management, incentive or performance improvement bonuses. • Pay in Lieu of Time Off • Automobile Allowance o 0 • Insurance Premiums - Annualized amounts that the reporting agency pays on the employee's behalf for medical, dental, vision, disabilitv and life insurance • Pension Costs - Annual amounts that the reporting agency pays for contributions to a pension plan (such as CaIPERS or OCERS) and/or Social Security. This is the government's share of the Employer Pension Annual Contribution to CalPER.S, OCE2S & Social Security, in addition to the Employer payment of an), share of the Employees obligated contribution percentage. See Appendices B and C • Total Compensation - Salary and benefit amounts should be totaled for the calendar year RED denotes nc« reporting requirement in 20 12 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 41 47 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX E: Methodology Details — Page 1 of 2 • Reviewed the three 2010 -2011 Orange County Grand Jury reports on: • Compensation Study of Orange County Cities; • County of Orange Compensation Disclosure; o Compensation Survey of Orange County Water and Sanitation Districts. • Reviewed 54 city, water & sanitation districts and county government response letters30 to the findings and recommendations of the three previous 2010- 2011 Orange County Grand Jury reports. • The 53 entities in the 2010 -2011 studies were the 34 Cities of Orange County, one County government and 18 Water & Sanitation Special Districts. • The 34 cities included Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda. • The 18 Water and Sanitation Special Districts were Costa Mesa Sanitation District, East Orange County Water District, El Toro Water District, Irvine Ranch Water District, Laguna Beach County Water District, Mesa Consolidated Water District, Midway City Sanitary District, Moulton Niguel Water District, Municipal Water District of OC, Orange County Sanitation District, Orange County Water District, Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Area Sewer District, Santa Margarita Water District, Serrano Water District, South Coast Water District, Sunset Beach Sanitary District, Trabuco Canyon Water District and Yorba Linda Water District. • Discussed in conversations, both in person and by phone, with selected Orange County cities and county governments about their 2010 -2011 responses. at Expanded the 2012 study to include 7 additional special districts, 1 joint power authorities (JPAs), and eliminated 3 water and sewer district to make a total of 58 governmental web sites to be reviewed. o The 8 additions are the: ■ Joint power authority of the Orange County Fire Authority; ■ 6 Special (non -water and sanitation) Districts of Buena Park Library District, Orange County Cemetery District, Orange County Vector Control, Placentia Library District, " 54 letters were received from 53 entities (34 cities, IS water & sanitation districts and 1 county government) since the city of laguns Hills sent a separate minority and majority response. All response letters to the 2010.2011 Orange County Grand Jury reports can be found at p Feu o ypall j1un ora rCOJnt asp . 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 42 48 COMPENSATION COST TRANSPARENCY APPENDIX E: Methodology Details — Page 2 of 2 Rossmoor Community Services District and Silverado/Modjeska Recreation & Parks District. ■ I Special (transportation) District, which is the Orange County Transportation Authority. o The 3 eliminations are Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Sewer District (no longer has a web site), Sunset Beach Sanitary District (which doesn't have a web site) and Laguna Beach County Water District, (now a part of the City of Laguna Beach). Corresponded with the OC local governments to be studied — o Re the establishment of this study to examine the local government web sites for the level of CCT, in terms of accessibility and content & clarity — by letters • Dated January 9 & 10, 2012 to 34 cities & 23 special districts/joint power authorities • Dated January 24, 2012 to Orange County CEO o Re: the frequently asked questions (FAQ's) concerning the Compensation Cost Transparency study — by letters • Dated February 23, 2012 to 34 cities & 23 special districts/JPAs • Dated March S, 2012 to Orange County CEO • Expanded the web assessment rating criteria to be more precise and objectively defined to build upon the previously more subjective rating criteria. • Researched on the CalPERS web to obtain the OC cities' and special districts' individual public employer contribution annual percentage rate of employee salary that CaIPERS requires the OC cities & special districts to contribute for their employee members' pensions. • Solicited OCERS and obtained the OC individual public employer contribution annual percentage rate of employer salary that OCERS requires the county agencies, county JPAs and some city & special districts to contribute for their employee members' pensions. • Reviewed, documented and assessed the transparency & content & clarity of each OC local government web site multiple times. • Initiated explanatory phone conversations in March, 2012 with several special districts/joint power authorities, selected cities and County CEO office. • Initiated February & March, 2012 phone conversations with the California State Controller Office's Bureau of Local Government Policy and Reporting to understand the state's local government compensation reporting requirements and future plans. • Compiled data, charts & assessments from documentation & web reviews. • Drafted and published study background, facts, analysis /findings & recommendations. 2011 -2012 Orange County Grand Jury Page 43 49 California Penal Coale Sections 033 and 033.05 [Note: to reduce grand jury requests for additional response information, the grand jury has bolded those words in §933.05 which should be appropriately included in a response] §933 (a) Each grand jury shall submit to the presidingjudge of the superior court a final report of its findings and recommendations that pertain to county government matters during the fiscal or calendar year. Final reports on any appropriate subject may be submitted to the presidingjudge of the superior court at any time during the term of service of a grand jury. A final report may be submitted for comment to responsible officers, agencies, or departments, including the county board of supervisors, when applicable, upon finding of the presidingjudge that the report is in compliance with this title. For 45 days after the end ofthe term, the foreperson and his or her designees shall, upon reasonable notice, be available to clarify the recommendations of the report. (b) One copy of each final report, together with the responses thereto, found to be in compliance with this title shall be placed on file with the clerk of the court and remain on file in the office of the clerk. The clerk shall immediately forward a true copy of the report and the responses to the State Archivist who shall retain that report and all responses in perpetuity. (c) No later than 90 days after the grand jury submits a final report on the operations of any public agency subject to its reviewing authority, the governing body of the public agency shall comment to the presidingjudge of the superior court on the findings and recommendations pertaining to matters under the control of the governing body, and every elected county officer or agency head for which the grand jury has responsibility pursuant to Section 914.1 shall comment within 60 days to the presiding judge of the superior court, with an information copy sent to the board of supervisors, on the findings and recommendations pertaining to matters under the control of that county officer or agency head and any agency or agencies which that officer or agency head supervises or controls. In any city and county, the mayor shall also comment on the findings and recommendations. All of these comments and reports shall forthwith be submitted to the presiding judge of the superior court who impaneled the grand jury. A copy of all responses to grand jury reports shall be placed on file with the clerk of the public agency and the office of the county clerk, or the mayor when applicable, and shall remain on file in those offices. One copy shall be placed on file with the applicable grand jury final report by, and in the control of the currently impaneled grand jury, where it shall be maintained for a minimum of five years. (d) As used in this section "agency" includes a department. §933,05 (a) For purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 933, as to each grand jury finding, the responding person or entity shall indicate one of the following: (1) The respondent agrees with the finding. (2) The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding, in which case the response shall specify the portion of the finding that is disputed and shall include an explanation of the reasons therefor. (b) For purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 933, as to each grand jury recommendation, the responding person or entity shall report one of the following actions: (1) The recommendation has been implemented, with it summary regarding the implemented action. (2) The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, with a timeframe for implementation. (3) The recommendation requires further analysis, with an explanation and the scope and parameters of an analysis or study, and a timeframe for the matter to be prepared for discussion by the officer or head of the agency or department being investigated or reviewed, including the governing body of the public agency when applicable. This timeframe shall not exceed six months from the date of publication of the grand jury report. (4) The recommendation will not be implementer) because it is not warranted or is not reasonable, with an explanation therefor. -M (c) However, if a finding or recommendation of the grand jury addresses budgetary or personnel matters of a county agency or department headed by an elected officer, both the agency or department head and the board of supervisors shall respond if requested by the grand jury, but the response of the board of supervisors shall address only those budgetary or personnel matters over which it has some decision making authority. The response of the elected agency or department head shall address all aspects of the findings or recommendations affecting his or her agency or department. (d) A grand jury may request a subject person or entity to come before the grand jury for the purpose of reading and discussing the findings of the grand jury report that relates to that person or entity in order to verify the accuracy of the findings prior to their release. (e) During an investigation, the grand jury shall meet with the subject of that investigation regarding the investigation, unless the court, either on its own determination or upon request of the foreperson of the grand jury, determines that such it meeting would be deu•imentul. (q A grand jury shall provide to the affected agency a copy of the portion of the grand jury report relating to that person or entity two working days prior to its public release and after the approval of the presiding judge. No officer, agency, department, or governing body of a public agency shall disclose any contents of the report prior to the public release of the final report. 51 Mayor Nancy Gardner Mayor Pro Teat Keith D. Cm ry Council Members Lcslic J. Daigle Michael F. Henn Rush N. Hill, II Steven J. Rosansky f dwnrd D. Selidl CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH OFFICE OF THE MAYOR October 10, 2012 The Honorable Thomas J. Borris Presiding Judge of the Superior Court 700 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, California 92701 RE: Report of the Orange County Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" Dear Judge Borrls: The attached is the City of Newport Beach's formal response to the above -noted Grand Jury Report. If you or any members of the Grand Jury have questions about our response, please do not hesitate to contact City Manager Dave Kiff at dkiff @newaortbeachca.gov or 949- 644 -3001. Sincerely, NANCY GARDNER Mayor of Newport Beach City Hall ^ 3300 Newport Boulevard ^ Post Office Box 1768 Newport Beach, California 92658 -8915 ^ www.newportbeachca.gov (949) 644 -3004 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH MEMORANDUM FROM: City of Newport Beach, California DATE: October 9, 2012 RE: Response to a Report of the Orange County Grand Jury titled "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog - But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" The Grand Jury's recent report, "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog - But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" obligates the City of Newport Beach (City) to respond nc later than October 12, 2012 to: Findings 2, 3, 4, and 5; and Recommendations 2, 3, 4, and 5. City Manager Dave Kiff was instructed to respond to the report on the City's behalf. His comments follow. FINDINGS Finding 2 - Content and Clarity Ratings for EXECUTIVE Compensation Cost. Twenty of the thirty -four cities were rated good, average, poor and nonexistent for Executive Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of whom could improve to excellent. Response: We agree that we can improve the provision of this information. Finding 3 - Content and Clarity Ratings for EMPLOYEE Compensation Cost Ratings. Twenty -nine of the thirty -four cities were rated good, average, poor and nonexistent for Employee Compensation Cost Content and Clarity, all of whom could improve to excellent. Response: We agree that we can improve the provision of this information. Finding 4 - Many Orange County local government web sites do not generally post their employer pension annual contribution rates prominently to their web sites as part of their compensation cost disclosure for public disclosure. Response: We agree that this information is not easy to find on our website, and that can be improved fairly easily. City Hall o 3300 Newport Boulevard o Post Office Box 1768 o Newport Beach, California 92659 -1768 Response to a Report of the Orange County Grand Jury titled "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog - But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" October 9 Page 2 Finding 5 -Two key categories are missing from compensation cost reporting. They are overtime pay and on -call pay. Response: We agree that this information is not easy to determine, but it also varies significantly person to person and year to year. It might be easier to post a year in arrears rather than in the current year. RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation #2 - The City should upgrade its executive compensation page, with a particular emphasis on pension costs. Response: This recommendation has not been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, within roughly six months. Recommendation #3 -The City should upgrade its employee compensation cost pages, with a particular emphasis on pension costs, overtime pay, on -call pay, and expanded descriptions." Response: This recommendation has not been implemented, but portions of it will be implemented in approximately six months. It may be challenging to include overtime pay and on -call pay by specific individual, given that these numbers change frequently, and can vary year to year. The City will examine ways to provide this information. Recommendation #4 - The City should post its employer pension annual contribution rates prominently and transparently on their websites. Response: This recommendation has not been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, within roughly six months. Recommendation #5 - The City should include overtime pay and on -call pay in compensation cost reporting on their employees' compensation pages. Response: As noted in our response to Recommendation #3, the City will examine ways to provide this information in a relevant and timely way. As of the date of this response, this recommendation requires further analysis to examine whether current year or past year information is regularly reportable, and whether the City's current software system could effectively provide it. The analysis will be completed within six months. If the Grand Jury has any questions or concerns about this response, please contact City Manager Dave Kiff at 949- 644 -3001 or dkiff @newportbeachca.gov NO ON MEASURE EE October 9, 2012 The Honorable Thomas J. Burris Presiding Judge of the Superior Court 700 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, California 92701 4 )0 - m-0-12 Re: Report of the Orange County Grand Jury — "Transparency Breaking Up Compensation Fog — But Why Hide Pension Costs ?" Dear Judge Borris I write to advise you about additional "compensation fog" that has arisen in the City of Newport Beach. I am a member of "No on Measure EE." As indicated in this letterhead, we are "No on Measure EE" which is a grass roots group of long time and concerned Newport Beach residents who oppose the City of Newport Beach's proposed 2012 Charter Amendments known as Measure EE. We submitted Arguments in Opposition to the Measure and Rebuttal Argument to the Proponents Argument in Support of the Measure. In connection with our Rebuttal to the Argument in Support which was timely submitted on August 16, 2012, we noted that one of the problems with Measure EE concerned compensation. In this Rebuttal, we stated: "The new Council compensation provisions fail to disclose the $19,045.34 per year health and retirement benefits which each councilperson receives in addition to the $14,728.20 per year reimbursement for expenses currently sanctioned (with cost of living increases) by the Charter." This was enclosed in the City Clerk's August 17, 2012 letter to us which is attached. On August 17, 2012, we received a letter from the City Clerk for the City of Newport Beach which stated that the above is false and misleading. She demanded that we rewrite it or defend it in court. She stated: You are correct that proposed City of Newport Beach Charter Section 402 (Compensation) does report the City Council's compensation amount which currently totals $14,728.20 per year; however, the $19,045.34 is not considered compensation as the Section title indicates. The health and retirement benefits Council Members receive under the California Public Employees' Retirement System are authorized under Charter Section 900 (Retirement System) and are listed as benefits and not as No2MeasureEE.com NO.ON.MEASURE.EE @GMAIL.COM 1048 IRVINE AVE., No. 273 NEWPORT BEACH. CALIFORNIA 92660 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK Leilani 1. Brown, MMC August 17, 2012 Via Regular U.S. Mail and Email Mr. Robert Hawkins (rhawkins62 earthl ink. net) 14 Corporate Plaza, Suite 120 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Mr. Ron Hendrickson and Mrs. Novell Hendrickson (ronov(a�cox.net) 1991 Port Claridge Place Newport Beach, CA 92663 Ms. Lucille Kuehn 1831 Seadrift Drive Corona del Mar, CA 92625 Mr. Jim Mosher (Jmmosher(a7yahoo.com) 2210 Private Road Newport Beach, CA 92660 Re: Requested Revisions to the Rebuttal to Direct Argument In Favor of Measure EE Dear Mr. Hawkins, Mr. and Mrs. Hendrickson, Ms. Kuehn, and Mr. Mosher: As (lie City of Newport Beach's City Clerk, I serve as the City's Elections Official. This position comes with considerable responsibility to follow and enforce election laws and standards. One of the laws that I must seek strict compliance of is that all election materials printed and presented to the voters is true and accurate. In reviewing the rebuttal argument that you submitted, I found two (2) clauses which violate the standard and I would like to present you with the opportunity to review and edit the clauses. The law provides that ballot arguments shall be made available for inspection and copying for a period of ten (10) calendar days following the deadline for submission of those materials. (California Elections Code Section 9295.) During those ten (10) calendar days, any voter or the Elections Official may seek a writ of mandate or injunction requiring any of the materials to be amended or deleted. A writ of mandate or an injunction may be issued upon clear and convincing proof that the material in question is false, misleading, or inconsistent with the requirements of the Elections Code, and that issuance of the writ or injunction will not substantially interfere with the printing or distribution of official election materials as provided by law. 3300 Newport Boulevard Post Office Box 1768 Newport ]Beach, California 92658 -8915 Telephone: (949) 644 -3005 Feu: (949) 644 -3039 xvRv v.cit},.ne%;.—Port- beach.ca.us Rebuttal to `Lrgument in Favor of Measure £E Our Cite Charter is our Constitution: it should define the people's rights and limit the Chv 's poa ers. Instead, the aunend.ments proposed in Measure EE weaken existing restraints Ind limit public participation. We are asked, with a iftLr[C Y) S or NO vote, to approN c ?8 di\ crs and vaguely e�piained proposal Contrary t,) wl-,at tcc proponents s.iN : C The last minute prohibition of red -light cameras, added without revi niv b) the Charter Committee. would be better handled by ordinance It was a rushed proposal and ;,. red herring: it is mi�sin�? c�•,cntial r,ords and naa} preclude f.;une tecl?aolor� cal ad\:mc.•: beneti_ia( to our City. i The char -, io ih,: conflict of lldcltist provisions rioted ;,,i ( owlc;l. nui :he pubhc% The new Council compensation provisions fail to di close the S 19;045.34 per year health and retir, went benefits which each councilperson receives irs addition to the $14,728.20 per year reimhursement for e :y�cnscs currently sanctioned t\�ith cost of li-. in- increases) i the Charter. u the i' :r\ _Si0^ barring cl8cs ::J:,un9 reslricL Cai7cra' ri h•- 1% - ecovc, b ch„rged !es an mad ha\e quest onable legality. o The supposedly antiquated "fu 11 audit" requiring ",cost!v small prim' is in fact a 25 -line financial stawrncnt that -osts _,.1 14 to pi int. iv1: asure LE h--is n:.m . other probl,:rr,, e'111M, the in -depth in;i :oration at T ce ortClnartc *t'pdatu.. iklsnae > Lam a ld decide - ;ou reap} %%ant, und : :r guise of increasing e f ioicncy, to make so many questionable changes to our C h :irtor. The claimed gains in ` ufficiency" lim..it your rights and expand the C UY's pulvers. Vote NO on Measure Lh. 2ober C. HaH kins ( t t Past Chair, NwAport Beach Planning Comm ssion ti � a \o,.ell Hendrickson ! w2( i� [ .,4i ,..: � - ��t ! AD_ e' Past Chair. \ \\ ort Beach Ciry yet Co n ssiol ; / C� Lucihe Kuehn _ � w T Pormc: r' VcN port Beach City Council Member � ti CD Jim Mosher ti� r L 1 t. Community Activist Ron He:tdrickson 40 Year \ec�port Beach Resident C 2 :`io Cie p_t 7� cn bit^ vwr,°3 a .bc�plvse,;01�=