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City of San Diego Retired Employees' Association Newsletter July 2009 |
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| Vol. 16 Issue: #7 |
July 2009 |
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Tuesday, July 14th
Meeting and Lunch
at the beautiful
Mission Bay Yacht Club**
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; $21 pp.
SAVE the DATE and Reserve Early!
Potential members are welcome to join Retirees, Spouses, Retired Fire and Police, plus Airport, and Port retirees. Seating is limited to 125 people so reserve early.
RSVP by July 3rd to
Sylvia Tatum (858)272-0494
or Dora Garcia (619)464-8595
**Attend the July 14th SEASIDE SOCIAL LUNCHEON at Mission Bay Yacht Club from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Seating is at round tables on a shaded front deck, next to the beach on the main channel of Mission Bay. This is a wonderful summer adventure/day trip. And remember, beautiful Mission Bay was built by the City of San Diego.
Cash bar for your personal choices.
Watch children learn to sail while you eat a few feet from the water. The price for this event is $21 for salad bar, roasted potatoes, chicken or salmon. Also available: Tour of Mission Bay Yacht Club, or stick around and bike around beautiful Mission Bay.
Driving Directions: Car: Parking is FREE - Club parks 125 cars. Freeway 8 west, exit north, turning right on to West Mission Bay Drive, cross the San Diego River and after passing Sea World Drive, loop right to Mission Beach. Go past theBahia Hotel. At Belmont Park, turn right and head north on to Mission Blvd. Go three blocks to a four-way stop at El Carmel Point, turn right, and head east to the end of the point.
Alternates: Friars Rd. to Sea World Drive exit West Mission Bay Dr. Or Pacific Beach's Grand Ave. to Mission Blvd. Bus route 8 from Old Town Trolley takes you past Belmont Park, or Bus route 9 goes past Sea World and through Pacific Beach. Either way, exit at Mission Blvd. and El Carmel Point. Yacht club is about a 6 minute Bay walk to the end of the point, next to the rowing club.
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS THIS MONTH
Robert J. Ferrier, Metro Waste Water; Donna J. Warlick, SDPD; DiAnn Bianconi, Devl. Svcs-Neighborhood Code Compl.; Vishnu M. Moharir, Engr. & Cap. Proj.; Alfred Peabody, Fire/Rescue
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PLAN AHEAD FOR UPCOMING EVENT
Tuesday, August 11th
Picnic at Police Pistol Range (no meeting)
4008 Federal Blvd. (at intersection of Home Ave.)
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; $5 pp.
hamburgers/hot dogs/soft drinks
Maximum 125 people; RSVP by July 31st to
Sylvia Tatum (858)272-0494
or Dora Garcia (619)464-8595
FIRST COME - FIRST SERVED
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PROGRAM |
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Our speaker on July 14th will be Judy Swink, active in C3 and the Mission Bay Park Committee. She will give us an update on how plans are coming along from voter approved "Prop C" for Mission Bay.
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| PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE by Nancy Acevedo |
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In June, in lieu of our Association meeting, SDCERS provided information to retirees on the medical plans. The session was well attended and hopefully all got their questions answered.
Following that meeting the Retired Fire and Police Association (RF&P) informed us of an alternative dental plan that is available to our members. We qualify simply by being City retirees. We were told that although this plan is more expensive than the one offered through SDCERS, it is worth it if extensive dental work is anticipated to be needed. If you are considering purchasing dental insurance check out this alternative. The e-mails we received about this plan include all the details. You may view them on our web site at CSDREA.com. You can also call Anderson-Shea Insurance Agency toll free at (877) 448-4800 with your questions. We appreciate our friends at RF&P sharing this valuable information with us.
Our Association's information paper on our Post-Retirement Health Benefit has been updated to reflect recent changes. This paper, which explains the retiree health benefit, the legal authority and funding source is available on our website.
At our next regular meeting we will be asking members to vote on a revision of our Bylaws to provide for a new committee, the "Helping Hands Committee, outreach bereavement support for the City of San Diego Retired Employees' Association members." More information on this new source of assistance will be provided in the near future.
The SDCERS Board is considering a proposed Board Rule regarding Disability Annual Affidavits, Medical Re-Examination and Hearings. We have reviewed this proposal and have provided Dave Hall, our Retiree Representative on the Board, with a number of suggested changes. There were so many questions that we hope this item will be continued to allow for further discussion. If you retired on disability, it is suggested that you also review this item and let me and SDCERS know of any concerns you have.
A Los Angeles area CPA, who has initiated many ballot initiatives (none successful) has come up with two more that, if successful, would have a big impact on retirees. One would add extra taxes onto any pension of over $40,000 a year and the other would tax health care premiums. Just a cautionary note - when asked to sign a petition for an initiative to qualify for the ballot, be very careful to know exactly what the initiative would do before being willing to sign.
I hope you are enjoying the start of summer - and that you will be able to attend our next two events
in place of our regular meetings - July 14th luncheon at the Mission Bay Yacht Club and August 11th barbecue at the Police Pistol Range.
Nancy
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| SDCERS RETIREMENT BOARD UPDATE by Board Member Patti Karnes |
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The following business was conducted at the June 19, 2009 SDCERS Board meeting:
Triple the volume of last year at this time have chosen to retire. That means 329 active DROP retired (approximately half of the current active DROP members). There were 16 regular retirements. On May 31st, there were 6264 retired, including DROP. There were 9596 active employee members of SDCERS; deferred/inactive count was 2943.
CSDREA President Nancy Acevedo requested that Patti Karnes comment on the phrase that was re-emerging regarding the SDCERS funding level: "relax and trust us." This is a hot button phrase, Patti noted. The more the Board or staff say it, the more retirees will pay attention. Some retirees attended a year of weekly Pension Reform Committee meetings and have attended the last five years of SDCERS meetings as a result of hearing "relax and trust us".
Patti requested that the Board not panic retirees, as we have heard "assurances" before, followed by red lights. Then Patti added her own comments: There is the temptation to think the Board can be magicians for a troubled city, but they would only be fooling themselves. It is for the City to decide what the City can pay, not for the Board to continue to pressure SDCERS Investment program to pursue precarious dreams of rescuing the City from bad financial times, as well as MPI and MP2. Lessening the City's burden by actuarial adjustments in the short-term could deepen the problem in the long-term again.
Retiree representative on the Board, Dave Hall, responded later in the meeting. Dave encouraged retirees to come to the meetings and voice their opinions. He focused on long term (the City paying the amortization schedule, investments in future markets, etc.,) to correct SDCERS' funding level. He saw retirees as having less time to wait for the corrections.
The SDCERS Board split 10-2 to move forward in the private equity process after discussion and comments.
Revision to the rules for the Disability Re-Exam Process for those not of retirement age have been made. That includes the Board's right to suspend benefits for failure to submit affidavits requested by SDCERS. The applicant has the burden of proof.
The realized gains for the first ten months of FY 2009 totaled -$301.4 million. The level of unrealized losses totaled -$509.7 million. These values are unaudited. The value of the reconciled net invested assets as reported by the custodial bank as of May 31, 2009 was $3,751,057,894.
Patti
WEB- Board meetings are archived and are available for viewing on line at any time (after the meeting) via the SDCERS web site.
TELEVISION- If you live in the City limits, Board meetings are on Channel 24 around 5 or 6pm, usually the third Friday of the month, and usually repeat on Sundays at 1 p.m. Official CDs of SDCERS' committees and Board meetings are available through the Board Secretary; visual recordings are available through City Channel 24. Motions and votes are in SDCERS monthly summaries of Board meetings.
For previous reports and announcements about when meetings are scheduled, please logon to our website at www.csdrea.com
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General Announcements
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Janet Burgess and Mary Lynn Hyde have graciously agreed to be at the door this year to greet you. If you would be willing to help them by doing this one month, please contact Janet at 619-463-7440 or by email at jburgess911@cox.net or Mary Lynn at mlhyde@san.rr.com
Dora Garcia, Hospitality Committee Chairperson - 619-464-8595. Thank you Dora for making sure all the eligible names are submitted for the monthly drawing for the Trader Joe's Gift Card.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
July 13 - Marco Thorne - 96 years
Do you know of a member who is ill or hospitalized, or a member who is over 80 years old and having a birthday? Notify Sharon Beach (619-934-8202) so the word gets passed along and a card is sent. Also, if you know of someone who has died, please let us know. You may also submit a short bio of that person for publication.
City of San Diego Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available to city retirees. This assistance is confidential. Contact EAP at 619-533-3460.
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| WEBSITE NEWS |
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SDREA WEB News! Logon http://www.csdrea.com
Members only section for the latest news. Read all the recent postings on subjects important to retirees. You will also discover helpful links to other resources.
Reminder
The Retired Fire and Police Assn. has welcomed CSDREA members to visit their website at
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| CITY OF SAN DIEGO RETIRED EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION BOARD |
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Board Members
The board members who have consented to listing their phone numbers in the newsletter have done so to provide you a way to arrange sending a card to a sick member, and to obtain a password for the "members only" section of the website. They are intended for the use of CSDREA members only. Thank you for your cooperation.
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