SOUND THE ALARM: Is your safety worth $1.50 a month?

Take off the gloves. It’s a no-holds-barred 7-alarm disaster. The mayor is at it again, trotting out his repertoire of false information and lies.

It’s a Signal 1-7 all call for the truth, and retired Assistant Fire Chief Debbie Carlin has answered the alarm to put out the mayor’s lies.

It comes down to this: a mere $18 a year.

That’s $1.50 a month--less than a tall Starbucks latte.

$18 a year.  A buck fifty a month. That’s what it would cost each person if every Dallas resident chipped in each year to ensure the pension plan is strong enough to keep our fire and police on the streets. 

Aren’t our active and retired first responders worth that much? Isn’t public safety worth $1.50 a month?

“The Dallas's Mayor either cannot add—or he is a liar,” Carlin said. “In his letter to the public, the mayor claimed the city would be out $1.35 billion over the next 30 years to save the police and fire pension. Those numbers are not accurate.”

Here is the real breakdown of additional costs as stated in HB 3158:

City of Dallas: $626 million (11% increase)

Active police and fire officers: $1.2 billion (91% increase) plus another $1.4 billion in reduced benefits by age 80 for a total increase of $2.6 billion.

Retired first responders: Reduced cost of living adjustment going forward (and, of course, the Mayor still wants to steal back $700 million in benefits already earned). 

Of these three groups--taxpayers, active members and retires--the City's burden is considerably lower than everyone else’s burden. Plus, the city's burden is spread over more than 1 million people while the remainder rests solely on the backs of 10,000 active and retired first responders.

“The Mayor is engaging in ‘fake math,” said Sam Friar of theDallas Police and Fire Pension board. “The Mayor’s words and actions are consistent with our belief that he is willing — and possibly attempting — to kill HB 3158 and the current pension plan in order to start a new one.”

Carlin and Friar aren’t the only one to sound the alarm about the mayor. In a guest commentary in The Dallas Morning News, state representative Jason Villalba notes that HB 3158 is not a taxpayer bailout as Mayor Rawlings erroneously claims. Rep. Villalba also notes that the entire Dallas delegation to the Texas legislature supports HB 3158. 

Immediately after Rawlings’ letter of lies, Dallas City Councilman Scott Griggs publically chastised the Mayor.

“I am AGAINST this letter,” Councilman Griggs posted on Facebook. “I fear that this letter is part of an organized effort to ‘kill the bill.’ Attempting to kill the bill is shameful.”

Shameful indeed.

In an April 21 press release, State Pension Chair Dan Flynn who authored the pension bill said he was “deeply disappointed in the Dallas Mayor making allegations and spreading incorrect information that won't hold up under scrutiny.”

According to Flynn, the mayor’s “own staff gave him incorrect information based upon unsubstantiated assumptions” that  “he touted as true.”

Flynn also said the Mayor’s bullying, name calling and refusal to negotiate in good faith “lends a lot of credence to the opinion of many that the Mayor just wants to take over the Plan and drastically attack benefits by collapsing the plan. Well that’s not going to happen.”

“The city can't recruit because they have a preference for parks over police and firemen, suggesting to everyone those officers rate below dirt and grass,” Flynn said. “The current legislation raises no taxes and requires no bonds, and I have no idea why the Mayor thinks it is so.”

“I suggest he stops wasting taxpayer dollars on expensive PR firms, lobbyists and lawyers, quit claiming bankruptcy is the answer and starts taking public safety seriously,” Flynn said.

Retired Assistant Fire Chief Carlin confirms that police and fire officers are leaving in record numbers “because they can make more money and have a lower work load just about anywhere else. And City Hall is showing them how much they really don't care.”

It’s time, she said, for taxpayers and city council members to “stand up and tell the Mayor to sit down and shut up. Tell the Mayor you think Fire and Police are worth another $18 a year.”

#backthepension #peoplebeforeprojects #morethandirt #sitdown&shutup

Thank Your First Responders By Backing The Pension

In her 33 years as a Dallas police officer, Crista served in many positions--on patrol, in Internal Affairs and Narcotics. She worked undercover as a high school student to help get drugs out of Dallas schools.

When her husband retired, they selected his pension and survivors benefits based upon her pension benefits and DROP account. All that is threatened now as Mayor Mike Rawlings and the city of Dallas attempt to seize DROP money and take back money already earned by retirees by garnishing their pension checks.

All that is further threatened by State Representative Dan Flynn who has sponsored HB 3151 that attempts to save the pension fund solely on the backs of its first responders by including the clawback provision, increasing the retirement age, eliminating cost of living adjustments and politicizing the make up of the pension board to one where the city gains control by allowing the mayor to appoint three additional members.

"The City of Dallas has benefited from our years of dedicated service and the DROP program," Crista said. "They immediately were able to keep senior officers, they were able to pay officers a 20 year pension versus a 30 year pension benefit. Yet, they are now threatening to abandon our pension. The City of Dallas and Mayor Mike Rawlings are bullies. They will use any and all forms of coercion to accomplish their goal of destroying the Dallas Police and Firefighters Pension Fund."

"My pension, DROP, and the annual adjustment is not a 'pie in the sky Ponzi scheme' crafted by 'greedy officers' intent on defrauding the citizens of Dallas, as Mayor Mike Rawlings has stated," she said. 

As a "greedy retiree," Crista volunteers more than 400 hours each year as a Reserve Police Officer, saving the City over $20,000 annually in wages and benefits for an on duty officer. She also assisted in the formation of the nonprofit Dallas Police Youth Foundation and has raised money for the operating expenses for the Dallas Police Department Youth Outreach Unit. 

"Many retirees perform similar activities" she said. "We don't serve the community because we are greedy. We serve in this manner because we have servant hearts and have earned our pension which we use to continue to give back to our community. Now is the time to thank your police officers and fire fighters by saving their pension."

#backthepension, #savethepension, #PoundOfFlesh

Elected Officials Created Problems, Not Solutions

Words and actions by Dallas elected officials in late 2016 helped create a $500 million run on the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System.

#BackThePension, #PoundOfFlesh, #SaveThePension

It's A Sense of Sheer Abandonment

In the weeks following the tragic officer shootings on July 7, 2016, the Dallas community offered strong support for its first responders. But the tone from City Hall changed quickly. Dallas first responders contrast the support they received from Dallas citizens compared to the city’s administration.

#BackThePension, #PoundOfFlesh, #SaveThePension

Now Where Are Those Chicken Feathers?

This really is a must read by Dallas Observer Columnist Jim Schutze. It shows what a travesty this pension bill crafted by State Representative Flynn really is by keeping in the clawback and the subterfuge created by Mayor Rawlings and his lobbying minions.

When calling out the city for its spending in other areas, Schutze writes: "How do you think that election would have gone? I would predict a vote of zero percent for the starchitect, 100 percent for the cops and firefighters plus dipping the mayor and City Council in tar, covering them with chicken feathers, placing them on a rail and carrying them out of town with much whiskey drinking."

Please share with your friends. Meanwhile, I'm going to go and find some chicken feathers…

#PoundOfFlesh #savethepension #backthepension

Back The Pension

Don't be fooled by the latest news reports that claim the pension issue has been resolved. This new bill proposed in Austin still attempts to resolve the pension issue on the backs of its first responders with the city of Dallas doing nothing. It still includes the clawback of money already earned and distributed and allows the Mayor to basically take control of the pension board. A very frightening thought indeed…

#PoundOfFlesh #savethepension #backthepension

A Promise Made

In the almost 40 years Don served as a firefighter, working an off-duty job wasn't an option.

It was the only way "to raise my kids, send them to college, put food on the table, and not just live a measly existence" that the city thought its public servants deserved, Don said.

Don was fortunate to survive years of not receiving raises from the city because of the income he received from off-duty jobs.

"When I was a Paramedic, I would work as many extra ambulance shifts, and later, hire-backs as possible, in order to supplement my income. Even though my wife worked, there were some pretty difficult years we faced," he said. "I truly believe it was the grace of God that guided us through them. I still believe this."

Don always plodded on because there was "always the promise that someday, in retirement, it would be different."

Promises.

Promises that Mayor Mike Rawlings, the city of Dallas and the Taxpayers For A Fair Pension are attempting to break. 

Promises Don counted on when he decided to retire in 2012.

"I sustained an on-duty back injury early in my career from which I still suffer today," he said. "For over 30 years, I seldom had a day in which I didn’t have pain. In fact, it was what caused me to retire. I couldn’t feel my legs and was afraid if someone needed immediate help on the fire-ground, I wouldn’t be able to help them."

"I found out early in my career in 1978-1979 that the City was not our friend and never skipped a chance to tell the rookies at our station about it," Don said referring to a decades old pay lawsuit that the city hasn't settled and have dragged on for 22 years.

“It is the longest case pending in Texas right now,” Ted Lyon, a former Texas state senate and house member and police officer who's now a plaintiffs attorney representing thousands of the city’s first responders against their employer, told WFAA news.

“The city has filed so many (pretrial) appeals that it is really ridiculous,” Lyon said.

"Sadly, those men and women who probably didn’t believe me then, are finding out first-hand what I was talking about because many naively assumed the city was going to take care of them like promised," he said.

Promises.

"I don’t know where this issue will land, but when the smoke clears," Don said, "the City of Dallas will have a black mark on it that will take decades to erase. The present government officials think public servants are below them and do not try to hide it now."

#PoundOfFlesh #savethepension

Dallas Observer Columnist Jim Schutze writes about the DART fix

In his latest Dallas Observer column, Jim Schutze writes that Dallas City Councilman Scott Griggs "thinks the approach of the mayor and the business elite he represents is both reprehensible and absurd. It’s reprehensible because it would claw back the pension fund’s deplorable deficits almost entirely from pensioners and their families. And it’s crazy, because, if you treat cops and firefighters that way, pretty soon you won’t have any cops or firefighters still working for you.

“The mayor wants to take a pound of flesh from innocent police and firefighters, their families and these officers in retirement who have already served 40 years,” Griggs said.

Read the entire column here.

#PoundOfFlesh #savethepension #backtheblue

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Another Story Of Betrayal

Editor's note: Here is another story about a first responder and his family. Mayor Mike Rawlings and the city of Dallas continues to paint police officers and firefighters as greedy, self-serving and overpaid.

This could be a story about John who gave 28 years to the city of Dallas before he retired.

Or this could be a story about John and the endless sacrifices he made for its citizens.

Or this could be a story about John and how he was betrayed by Mayor Mike Rawlings and the city of Dallas.

It could be, but it isn’t.

This is a story about his son Joe.

Joe was born six weeks early in the summer of 1991. Despite his early entrance, he was otherwise healthy, John said.

“About the time he turned 2, my wife was noticing significant delays in Joe’s ability to communicate as well as some of his motor skills,” he said. “After months of testing, Joe was diagnosed with autism.”

At that time, an autism diagnosis was very bleak, he recalled. “We were told to begin saving immediately because we would eventually need to institutionalize him. It was a harsh time for our family.”

“The financial strain was immense,” John said, “and the therapies were very intense. We were blessed to have not only our family, but also our police family. They looked out for me on many an occasion when I was exhausted from the long hours of work and taking care of Joe’s needs.”

In the 1980s and 1990s, the city’s insurance didn’t pay for speech therapy for anyone under any circumstance, he said.

“We had spent years paying out of our pocket for these expenses at a rate that a young police family couldn’t support. Doing without his therapies wasn’t an option for us because our child was our priority,” he said, “so we found ways to live very modestly and cover the costs.”

“After decades of hard work on all of our parts, but particularly Joe’s part, he has made major advances,” John said.

Joe earned a college degree and works full time.

“However, because of his communication difficulties, he is under-employed and still lives with us,” John said. “When DROP came along, we decided this would be a great way to ensure his future care. Without his DROP money, Joe’s care will suffer after my wife and I are gone. He is a fine, hard working young man who deserves a chance at a decent life.”

Now that money and his son’s future care is in jeopardy because of Mayor Rawling’s threat to seize DROP money and take back money already earned by retirees by garnishing their pension checks.

“I worked hard for ‪the police department and made many sacrifices to financially provide for my family,” John said. “I missed major milestones of both of my children --milestones I was told to never expect my youngest son to achieve. I sacrificed and worked hard in exchange for a pension. It’s time for the City of Dallas to honor our agreement.”

#PoundOfFlesh, #savethepension, #backtheblue

The Mayor Wants Confrontation, Not Cooperation

Editor's note: While there appears to be a step by the pension board and State Pension Committee Chairman Dan Flynn to try and come up with a workable solution to this pension mess, it's not time to sit around, hold hands and sing Kumbaya--at least not yet. We all know that the city of Dallas is quick to promise, but rarely delivers. So here is another story about a first responder that Mayor Rawlings and the city of Dallas want you to believe is greedy, self-serving and overpaid.

In the 34 years Tom worked for the Dallas Police Department, he said 36 officers were killed in the line of duty, countless were injured and some were paralyzed.

Before the creation of the city’s DROP retirement program, virtually all officers left at age 50 because they had maxed out their pension, Tom said.

“When it came time, I went into DROP at age 48 and took a reduced pension to do that. I didn't invent DROP, I didn't steal anything, I am not a thief,” he said. “I only did what the city and department wanted—for me to stay longer.”

DROP worked well for the city, he said.  It kept hundreds of officers past what would have been the normal age to retire.

“In my case, I stayed until age 56.  The city got at least six more years of service and a reduced pension amount because of DROP,” he said.

Now, Mayor Mike Rawlings and the city want to seize retiree’s pension accounts and garnish their pension checks for money already earned.

“The city and the Mayor want confrontation, not cooperation,” Tom said. “The problem is the city doesn’t want to do its part.  Had the Mayor said some time ago, ‘The police officers and firefighters of this city have always taken care of us, we will take care of them’ much of this situation could have been avoided. The Mayor wanted a crisis and spoke of bankruptcy to create it.”

“I believe that my benefits are protected by a State Constitutional agreement and by common sense,” he said. “I want to help fix the crisis. I want to be part of the solution. The city has never been concerned about the pension until it got to this point. The city needs to step up.”

#PoundOfFlesh, #savethepension, #backtheblue

Don't Let The Politicians Scare You

The Dallas Morning News finally printed another guest commentary. This one is a good one from Jim McDade, president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association. Read about it here.

#PoundOfFlesh, #savethepension,

Don't Let David Face Goliath Alone

Editor's note: Meet David who faithfully served the citizens of Dallas for 36 years. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, the city of Dallas and the bogus group called Taxpayers For A Fair Pension want you to believe he is greedy, self-serving and overpaid. The truth is entirely different.

David’s 36 years as a police officer took its toll in seemingly small ways.

“I worked in uniform for the majority of my 36 year career. It was my choice because I liked it,” he said. “Unfortunately, what comes with wearing the uniform is all the extra gear.”

The gun belt worn by police officers weighs between 10 and 12 pounds depending on the equipment carried on the belt. 

“You might think that doesn’t sound like a lot, but for an eight hour shift getting in and out of a cramped patrol car, it can wear on your lower back very quickly,” David said. “Factor in the late calls and the overtime worked because of the shortage of cops, an officer can easily spend 12 hours in a squad car several days a week.”

The weight of that belt “finally got the best of my lower back.  I had no feeling in my right leg,” he said.

Steroid injections and physical therapy were unsuccessful.

In June of 2016, David had his first back surgery. After weeks of being off work and $6,300 of uncovered out-of-pocket expenses, he returned to patrol.

Although the surgery helped, “as soon as I started wearing that gun belt again,” he said, “the extra weight triggered the same symptoms.  I muddled through work for several weeks--because that’s what we do--but finally had to have a second surgery.”

This time two 3-inch titanium rods were installed and held together with six 2-inch titanium screws.

And while he was fairly successful at battling his back issues, he could not win against another formidable foe: Parkinson’s disease.

For years, he was able to combat it with expensive medications.

“As with any medications, there are the dreadful side effects. I felt like crud most days, but continued to work because even after 35 plus years, I still enjoyed being a police officer in the City of Dallas,” he said.

But in October of last year, he faced one of the most difficult decisions of his life.

“I felt the disease progressed enough that even with medication, I could no longer perform my duties as a police officer, nor did I want to put my partner in harm’s way as I could not physically do the job,” David said.

After going through the exit interviews, turning in all his police equipment and signing some paperwork, David visited the pension office. 

The counselor told him the dollar amount he would received every month. The counselor also told him his health insurance premium would increase from $75 to $629 because he had retired. He is too young for Medicare.  His out-of-pocket expense for his Parkinson’s medication costs about $980 a month.

Now, the battle David faces is with the city of Dallas, Mayor Mike Rawlings and Taxpayers For A Fair Pension who want to take away his pension, seize the DROP money he earned and garnish his pension checks.

It really is David against Goliath.

#PoundOfFlesh #savethepension #backtheblue #DavidVsGoliath

And Now The Scary Part

Editor's note: Meet David who served the citizens of Dallas for 39 years. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, the city of Dallas and the bogus group called Taxpayers For A Fair Pension want you to believe he is greedy, self-serving and overpaid. Here is David's story.

In his 39 years serving the city of Dallas, David was injured twice, his lockermate was killed on duty by a burglary suspect and his partner was shot in the face with a shotgun.

He was one of the first officers who rolled up on the scene when two officers were shot trying to arrest an armed robber.

“We took one of the officers to the hospital in the back seat of my police car wondering if he would survive. His partner was killed at the scene,” David said.

Throughout the years, he worked a steady stream of extra duty jobs to provide for his family.

“Once upon reflection, I figured I had worked an average of 52 hours a week for my first 30 years on the department,” he said. “After hours and many vacation days were devoted to extra jobs instead of my home life and vacations. I thought I was helping my family get the things they wanted and deserved. But when you work extra hours, even when you’re home, you don't have the energy to properly participate in normal family activities.”

David believes the long hours, extra jobs and daily stress cost him his marriage.

“I know this would not have happened if I had chosen another profession,” he said.

After he served for 20 years, David said he decided to stay and take advantage of the DROP program that was offered by the city.

“Even though I had already earned a full 20 year retirement, by working an additional nine and a half years, I was told--and believed--my retirement years would be secured. I could have left the police department to work at another company, earning another retirement and a better salary. But the DROP option seemed to be the best at the time,” he said. “The charts and the numbers were there before you. We were told the pension was one of the very best in the country.”

So David remained and made his long term financial and retirement decisions based on income from his pension and the DROP program. He retired in August of 2009.

“Now the scary part,” he said. “My fears today concern me more than when I was working. When I was a young officer, I thought I was bulletproof and could handle myself in any situation. Today, I feel older, have no control and our future seems uncertain.”

If the pension is cut by a substantial amount or if any type of clawback is imposed that would garnish his pension check for interest already earned, David will be forced to sell his home.

“I receive no social security from working at the city. The pension and DROP are our retirement. Finding reasonable employment income at my age seems unlikely,” he said, noting that he is 67 years old, has a heart condition and suffers from neuropathy.

“We have obeyed every rule and direction we were given by the city of Dallas and the pension fund regarding our retirement,” David said. “We have done nothing to warrant this.”

#PoundOfFlesh #savethepension #backtheblue
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