Joplin council tabs citizens committee to oversee, report on pension tax
Council members were asked by city staff whether collection of the half-cent tax approved by voters
The oversight committee makes a public report at council meetings twice a year, with details on how much money has been collected and whether the sales tax proceeds are being used for designated purposes. The committee is made up of nine residents who are appointed by the council and who apply to serve.
The pension board is composed of six members, two representing police, two from the fire department and two representing the public. The four public safety board members are elected by members of those departments; currently the two public members, appointed by the council, are investment advisers.
Tax purposes
"From an accounting perspective, this tax will be relatively simple to keep track of and to track," Haase said. "I have already set up a separate fund so that it is very transparent. The funds are coming in, and if you recall, the money can only be used for three things."
One of those purposes is putting newly hired workers into a statewide retirement fund -- the
Additionally, about
The city will have to purchase credit from LAGERS to cover their years of service with the city since the employees were hired. It is estimated those buyout costs will be about
But the bulk of the money will be deposited into the existing police and fire pension fund so that it has enough money to pay out all the benefits owed to the existing workers who are not eligible to move to the new fund. Once the two reserve funds are met, all of the money will then go to the pension plan, Haase said.
Haase has estimated that the tax will collect about
Passage of the sales tax also frees up about
The finance director will prepare spreadsheets monthly to provide to the city manager, the council and the pension board, she said.
Pension transactions
Council member
Haase said that sales tax does not come in evenly each month because some businesses pay them monthly and others quarterly or annually. Because of that, she said, she could not specify a certain amount. She will prorate an amount from each month's collections to apply to the reserved funds.
Councilman
Haase said the board doesn't. "However, the language of how the money will be used is in the pension plan from an amendment that was approved. Their responsibility will be investing the funds to make sure the funds are invested properly."
Citizen oversight
Councilman
"For me, this is another tax. It's a special, separate tax, and I don't see any reason not to put it under that group," he said. "It doesn't change anything. It doesn't do a darn thing other than for citizens. It's being looked at just like all the other taxes are. They have to come and make a report to council. It's done by a board with membership the council controls."
Councilman
"My opinion is that this tax, since it's a specific revenue stream that goes to a specific purpose, it falls better under the pension board who can see those taxes come in monthly. We are not waiting on quarterly reports to see how things are going. Citizens can also see that we're putting the monthly directly for the people who we said it was going to benefit," Monteleone said.
Stinnett said the pension board also would get the report monthly regardless of who's overseeing the tax.
Mayor
Public transparency
Stanley asked if the pension board or the police and fire unions had sent a formal request to be designated as the overseer. Shaw said he thought a representative of the board would be there for the council discussion because they discussed it at a pension board meeting.
Stinnett asked the mayor why the pension board or employees would feel they should have oversight.
The mayor said it is because they worked with other city officials for a year to study a pension underfunding solution and on the proposal as well as canvassing the community to vote in favor of the ballot question.
Stinnett said the pension board will make the decision on how to invest the money. "But why would they not want it to be in the group that comes and make a public presentation so the citizens hear about it? They don't make a public presentation. We get minutes, but they don't make a public presentation."
Stanley said there are a lot more moving purposes with the other taxes monitored by the oversight committee. The pension tax is much more straightforward. "I see the similarities, and I also see the differences."
Stinnett said he was on council when the oversight committee was set up and tasked with making public reports. "The reason we set it up was not because it was going to change anything. The only reason for setting it up was to try to give the citizens the assurance we're not hiding anything, we're not trying to do anything, we're going to put it all out in front of you publicly with a separate board that reports to you."
Stinnett also said it was done "so that the citizens could have total 100% faith in the fact that its all out front." He said he still thinks that continues to be needed.
Council member
"I think whichever way we go it has to be in the direction of transparency to the voters for supporting this and voting this tax in and they want to see what happens with this money. With a public report, they can see where that money is being spent. I just think if we try to go a different direction, it will be back to 'we need transparency in government and they're hiding stuff from us.' So I think whichever is the most open to the citizens."
Councilman
Monteleone suggested a compromise "because we are very concerned about how the public perceives this. We are also very cognizant of the fact that we have been working with our police and fire departments for the greater part of a year and a half now. The mayor has put in a lot of time with that and (Stanley) has put in a lot of time with that, we have a good relationship with them and they have expectations of us as well."
He suggested that the council give oversight to the pension board with the caveat that a member report publicly every quarter on the money.
Cortez said the transactions would be static in that reports would reflect how much money was deposited for each purpose. He said both the pension board and the oversight committee could both receive the information every month.
Council member
"We put it up to citizens for a vote. Let's just tell the citizens that citizens get to see it, that citizens have their eyes on it, that citizens get to oversee it. For me that's not going to hurt anything and it may just help a whole lot," he said.
Stanley made a motion to have the citizens oversight committee monitor the receipts and transaction for public reports.
Brown seconded the motion. It passed 8-1 with Monteleone casting the "no" vote.
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