OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER November 4, 2011 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Alan Tandy, City Manager AT SUBJECT: General Information Please Note: If you are viewing the document online, you can click the blue underlined words throughout the text which will take you directly to the background files referenced for each applicable topic. Miscellaneous News • The City recently received its CalPERS Annual Valuation Report, which includes employer rates for future years and provides updated information regarding the funding status of the various City retirement plans as of the June 30, 2010. The good news is the actual rates for 2012- 13 and projected rate for 2013-14 are lower than the estimates received from CalPERS last year. On the other side of the coin, the City’s total unfunded liability increased by $3.3 million – however higher than expected returns on CalPERS investments resulted in a lower than projected unfunded liability amount. Details of the report can be found in the enclosed memo from Finance Director Nelson Smith. • AEG, owner and producer of the Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race, announced this week Bakersfield will play host to the individual time trial portion of the race on Thursday, May 17, 2012. Bakersfield is the only City to host the time trial during the eight day, 13 city race. The time trials are an all-day event which historically has been hosted in Solvang or Los Angeles. The time trial consists of cyclists racing alone against the clock on a 15-20 mile course (route is yet to be determined). Different than the Stage finish the City hosted in 2010, the entire event will be located within the metro Bakersfield area and run for most of the day. Details of the route and day of events will be announced at a later date. A news release is enclosed. • Last month’s Hot Rod Reunion at Auto Club Famoso Raceway was economically beneficial to Bakersfield. According to the Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, most Bakersfield hotels surveyed had at least 80 percent occupancy on the Thursday before the event, and were sold out on both Friday and Saturday nights. In addition to filling up hotel rooms, these visitors ate at local restaurants and spent money on other Honorable Mayor and City Council General Information November 4, 2011 Page 2 goods and entertainment. According to a national racing magazine, this was “quite possibly the largest Reunion ever” and the event’s “advance ticket sales surpassed the previous years by a landslide.” One of the racing teams sent a compliment to the people of Bakersfield after the event, praising our local facilities and restaurants, saying “everyone was personable and incredibly hospitable.” • For many months we have told you about the ongoing progress at the Baker Street Redevelopment Project. We are pleased to tell you it officially opened this week and is now an occupied residential development! Please see the enclosed pictures from the ribbon cutting. • Public Works staff has been steadily completing energy efficiency projects at Rabobank Arena and Convention Center. The enclosed memo outlines the latest round of improvements. TRIP News Motorists are advised to expect traffic delays at the intersection of Truxtun Avenue and Mohawk Street beginning Saturday morning, November 5, 2011 at 7 a.m. and lasting through the weekend. The contractor will be installing new controller equipment and completing final electrical connections for the traffic signal. This work will require the traffic signal power to be temporarily turned off. Temporary stop signs will be installed and the intersection will operate as an all-way stop. This work is expected to be completed and the traffic signal returned to normal operation by Sunday afternoon. During the City Council meeting on September 28th the Council approved a change order with the Westside Parkway contractor for the construction of a new box culvert for the Kern County Water Agency. This box culvert will reroute the Cross Valley Canal - as its current configuration conflicts with the Westside Parkway alignment. During excavation for a portion of this new box culvert residual petroleum coke materials were discovered. The costs and timeframe associated with disposing of these materials has not been determined, but there could be notable costs associated with it. We will keep you informed as more details become available. Honorable Mayor and City Council General Information November 4, 2011 Page 3 Event Schedule There are multiple public events scheduled for the next week at City facilities: BPD Memorial Run November 5th; 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. Park at Riverwalk Race Day Entry Fee $30 - See enclosed flyer Monty Python's Spamalot November 11th; 7:30 p.m. Rabobank Theater Tickets: $26.50 – $54 Council Referrals Councilmember Salas: o Roadway on Planz Road Reports For your information, we enclose the following information: The Streets Division work schedule for the week beginning November 7th;and A letter from AT&T regarding changes to its U-verse programming. A letter from Bright House Networks regarding changes to its programming. AT:rs:ch cc: Department Heads Roberta Gafford, City Clerk MEMORANDUM TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager FROM: Nelson K. Smith, Finance Director DATE: October 28, 2011 SUBJECT: PERS Rates for 2012-13 and Updated Funding Status The City recently received its Annual Valuation Report, which includes CalPERS employer rates for future years and also provides updated information regarding the funding status of the various City retirement plans as of the June 30, 2010 CalPERS valuation date. The table below shows the employer rates we are currently paying for each plan, along with our new PERS rates for 2012-13. The CalPERS report also provides “projected rates” for each plan, estimating the future year employer rates for fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15. Rates (as a % of payroll) 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Est. Est. Fire 25.210% 25.810% 26.5% 27.1% Police 33.511% 33.626% 34.1% 34.5% Miscellaneous 15.764% 16.148% 16.4% 16.7% The actual rates for 2012-13 and projected rate for 2013-14 are lower than the estimates received from CalPERS last year. The Fire rate for 2012-13 is 25.810% ; the estimate for 2013-14 is 26.5%. Last year PERS estimated these rates at 27.4% and 33.0% respectively. The Police rate for 2012-13 is 33.626% ; the estimate for 2013-14 is 34.1%. Last year PERS estimated these rates at 35.0% and 39.2% respectively. The Misc. rate for 2012-13 is 16.148% ; the estimate for 2013-14 is 16.4%. Last year PERS estimated these rates at 16.6% and 19.4% respectively. CalPERS investments showed unprecedented losses for fiscal year 2008-09. As a result of those losses CalPERS implemented a three year modification to rate increases to smooth the impact of the one year investment loss. Because of this modified plan we expected our employer rates to increase over the three year period, with 2011-12 being the first of the three years. The actuarial report does not explain why the 2012-13 rates are lower than they projected a year ago. The report does explain that the 2013-14 rate estimates are lower than previously projected because they now have preliminary earnings estimates for 2010-11 of approximately 20%, where last years’ estimates for 2013-14 were based on the actuarial rate of 7.75%. In addition to the new employer rate data, the annual PERS report also provides us with updated funding status of the plans, or unfunded liabilities of the plan. The table below provides the unfunded liability numbers from last years’ report and the current year report, which carries a valuation date of June 30, 2010. Unfunded Liabilities 06/30/2009 06/30/2010 $ change Fire $ 22,639,201 $ 22,890,276 $ 251,075 Police $ 69,013,829 $ 70,926,777 $ 1,912,948 Miscellaneous $ 53,578,353 $ 54,768,688 $ 1,190,335 Total – All Plans $ 145,231,383 $ 148,585,741 $ 3,354,358 As you can see the City’s total unfunded liability increased by $3,354,358. The majority of this increase was created by the Police and Miscellaneous plans, compared to the Fire plan which had a very modest increase. CalPERS investments showed gains of 11.6% during the 2009-10 fiscal year; well above the long term actuarial estimate of 7.75%. These positive results have the effect of lowering our unfunded liability calculation. In other words, if CalPERS earnings for the year had been “average” our unfunded liability number would have been higher than the amount shown in the actuarial report. As a reminder, the City Council has taken several steps in the past few months that will reduce retirement benefit costs for newly hired employees of all employee groups. The estimated impact of these actions are long term in nature, but over time will have a significant positive affect on the financial condition of the Citys’ retirement costs and long term liabilities. cc: Steven Teglia, Assistant City Manager Christi Tenter, Human Resources Manager File name: nks:/s:/nelson/memo-PERS rates for 2012 and other info.doc BAKERSFIELD AMONG THIRTEEN HOST CITIES ANNOUNCED FOR 2012 AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA Challenging Route to Take Cyclists Over More Than 750 Miles of Striking California Terrain During America’s Premier Cycling Race from May 13 – 20, 2012 LOS ANGELES (November 3, 2011) – After reviewing more than 100 submissions from cities throughout California hoping to be named official start or finish locations, AEG, presenter of the Amgen Tour of California, has announced the 13 official Host Cities for the 2012 race.