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50

HIT THE ROAD THE OSCAR GOES TO YOU!

Why popular movies don’t win, A3
AND TRY LIFE Play along with our fill-in-the-blanks
‘WORKAMPER’ awards-night ballot, D1
STYLE, B1 The biggest snubs of all time, D2
Your favorite Oscar winners, Parade

CITY PENSIONS
“It’s a big hole
in the budget
that keeps
KERN RELISHING
getting bigger.”
— Councilman Zack Scrivner
ITS CLOSE-UP

Parts of
“Star Trek”
were filmed
here last
KENT KUEHL / THE CALIFORNIAN year.
PARAMOUNT

Growing debt
PICTURES

Movies infuse a record $23.7 million in local economy

taking toll on BY SHELLIE BRANCO

Californian staff writer
sbranco@bakersfield.com

city’s budget the end of the day, this impacts I

Services may suffer if
system isn’t changed
BY JAMES GELUSO
Californian staff writer
jgeluso@bakersfield.com
t’s a tad too early to
speculate whether the
“Star Trek” prequel will
get anywhere near the
our ability to provide services.”
Academy Awards next year,
The increase in annual pen-
sion payments has already but Kern County doesn’t
meant millions of dollars have
gone into employee benefits need the red carpet to strut
that could have gone to hire, its stuff.

M
aybe the city was too well, more employees.
generous. Maybe it The city’s debts — “unfunded After all, we’ve got the
was irresponsible. liabilities” in the parlance of insider gossip: Spock’s
Maybe it was just municipal finance — are already
unlucky. a hot political issue. They’re home world of Vulcan is RALPH NELSON / UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Either way, Bakersfield owes
its employees $205 million more
than it has in savings. The city
has 30 years to come up with the
money, and the taxpayers of
Bakersfield are on the hook.
Some fear it will become a
drag on municipal finances —
possibly in just a few years.
“It’s a big hole in the budget
that keeps getting bigger,” said
Councilman Zack Scrivner. “At
fueling antipathy between
employee unions and the Aber-
nathy wing of the local Republi-
can Party, which has three of the
seven seats on the Bakersfield
City Council and tried — but
failed — last year to snag a
fourth.
And changing the system is a
huge issue in ongoing negotia-
tions between the city and the
Please see PENSIONS / A5
actually Tejon Ranch.
The buzzworthy “Trek” movie
set for a May release pumped
cash into the local economy
when crews came to Kern last
year to shoot major scenes.
“Trek” was just one Hollywood
production that helped smash
an economic record last year,
says Kern County assistant film
commissioner Dave Hook. He’s
charged with the task of attract-
“Land of the Lost” pumped $6.5 million into the local economy.
ing productions to the county’s
varied landscapes.
In turn, that gives local busi-
nesses such as hotels and cater-
ers the chance to make some
cash by offering services to the
cast and crew.
The local economic impact of
“Star Trek” was estimated at a lit-
tle more than $2 million, but Will
Ferrell’s “Land of the Lost,” due
in June, injected $6.5 million
into the economy.
Thanks to those films, plus an
upcoming TV miniseries called
“Meteor: Path to Destruction”
starring Stacy Keach and the
film “Fast & Furious,” revenue
generated by film production in
Kern County hit $23.7 million
last year, a 45 percent increase
Please see MOVIES / A3

Drought withering valley agriculture

nation’s biggest agricultural engine.
ECONOMIC CRISIS: Spreading Across the valley, towns are already see-
woes hammer towns, farms ing some of the worst unemployment in
the country, with rates three and four
and may drive up food prices times the national average, as well as
reported increases in all manner of social
BY JESSE MCKINLEY ills: drug use, excessive drinking, and rises
N.Y. Times News Service in hunger and domestic violence.
he Central Valley is being battered by With fewer paydays, even check-cashing
80,000 jobs lost.
“My community is dying on the vine,”
said Robert Silva, the mayor of Mendota, a
city of about 10,000 residents west of Fres-
no that is suffering with a 35 percent
unemployment rate. “People are saying,
‘Are you a Third World country?’”
The recent rains haven’t been enough to
reverse a deepening drought that may

T the recession like farmland most

everywhere. But in an unlucky strike
of nature, the downturn is being aggravat-
businesses have failed, as have thrift
stores, ice cream parlors and hardware
shops. The state has put the 2008 drought
rival severe dry spells in the late ’70s and
early ’90s. But this drought’s ill effects are
compounded by the global economy.
HENRY A. BARRIOS / THE CALIFORNIAN ed by a severe drought that threatens to losses at more than $300 million, and Agriculture officials say the prospect of
Shafter farmer Fred Starrh stands on part of 2,000 drive up joblessness, increase food prices, economists predict that this year’s losses minimal state and federal water supplies
acres he did not farm due to water shortages. and cripple farms and towns in the could swell past $2 billion, with as many as Please see DROUGHT / A3

C O N TAC T U S
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392-5777 or 1-800-953-5353
On the Internet
Bakersfield.com/contact_us
To report a news tip
395-7384 or 1-800-540-0646
or local@bakersfield.com
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Bakersfield.com/yourwords
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322-SELL (322-7355)
C O M I N G M O N D AY INDEX
Kern’s crime lab has Books . . . . . . . . . . . . D10
doubled the pace of DNA Classifieds . . . . . . . E1
testing in the last year and Comics . . . . . . . Inside
is on track to dramatically
Crossword . . . . . D3, E5
shrink the backlog in
cases. Find out what’s Eye Street . . . . . . . . D1
going right in Monday’s Funerals . . . . . . . . . . . B2
Californian. Horoscope . . . . . . . . D3
Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . E1
Local news . . . . . . . B1
Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
O U T S I D E TO D AY Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . D2
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . B8
HIGH AIR QUALITY WOOD-BURNING
Real Estate . . . . . . . F1
68 66 STATUS
Burn cleanly Sports . . . . . . . . . . . C1
LOW
moderate Television . . . . . . . . . D5
52 Complete weather, B10 Travel . . . . . . . . . . D12
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2009
MOVIES: Kern known for its
8,200 square miles of diversity
CONTINUED FROM A1 on and off for four months. A portion of
from 2007 and a record-breaker despite the
recession and the threat of union work stop-
page in Hollywood.
The “Land of the Lost” crew built sets in the
Trona Pinnacles in San Bernardino County but
rented hotel rooms in eastern Kern. They
stayed a total of 39 days, which brought in
more money than the eight days logged in
Kern by the “Trek” crew.
The film commission saw 218 productions
head to Kern County last year, including TV
shows, documentaries, educational videos,
commercials, industrial projects and music
videos — one by pop artist Pink.
In 2007, 214 projects were shot here, most of
them small fish. That year’s big catch was “Iron
Man,” starring Robert Downey Jr.
Show me the money
So how exactly do film commissions come
up with a number that estimates how much
location shooting contributes to the econo-
my?
Hook says the Association of Film Commis-
sioners International created a formula based
on industry standards that takes into account
the size of a cast and crew and independent
versus studio production, among other fac-
tors.
For example, a feature film with a union cast
and crew of 21 to 60 people will spend an esti-
mated $125,000 per day, Hook says. A high-
budget movie could easily spend a quarter
million a day.
Property rentals, lodging and food are the
first local services that come to mind, but
small incidentals add up.
For example, on “Star Trek,” a sequence shot
at Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area
called for a car to burn rubber. The studio
hired a Bakersfield company to steam clean
the tire marks off the road between takes.
The commission often provides the studios
a list of local businesses, which are contacted
directly by the studio.
“Trek” production staff were in the county
Spock’s boyhood home was built in Tejon
Ranch. When we first meet Capt. Kirk as a
young man, he’s riding a classic car out by
Buena Vista. The cliff he comes across is a CGI
effect.
“Fast & Furious” spent a day filming a stunt
sequence of a rolling bus on Edmonston
Pumping Plant Road in Lebec. Over the course
of 36 hours they spent a quarter of a million
dollars, Hook says.
Reeling them in
Most of the time Hook doesn’t get to rub
elbows with the stars. His job involves phone
work, coordinating with property owners and
studio location managers. His office is the cin-
ematic version of a dating Web site, he jokes.
The office markets itself through its Web site,
participates in industry events and trade
shows, and works closely with the California
Film Commission to get Kern’s name out to
location managers.
Several states, including New York, Virginia,
and New Mexico, and countries such as Cana-
da offer incentives to attract productions,
such as rebates for hiring crew members from
the area.
To compete, the Kern commission advertis-
es the county as 8,200 square miles of geo-
graphically diverse landscapes, all within a
three-hour drive from Los Angeles.
Kern County doesn’t charge for filming per-
mits or the use of its roads. And Hook says
local services are cheaper than those in Los
Angeles.
“We have to convince L.A.-based people
that our locations are unique enough to make
it worth the trip up here, and the relatively low
cost of doing business makes up for incentives
elsewhere,” he says.
Sometimes movie buffs call his office to find
out where their favorite movie scenes were
shot. Fans of “Erin Brockovich” visit Boron
Park to sit on Julia Roberts’ bench. The town
meeting scene was filmed in Boron’s commu-
nity center.
THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN A3
MOVIES FILMED IN KERN
From episodes of the classic silent film
series “Keystone Cops” around 1915 to
the 2008 blockbuster “Iron Man,” parts
Ex-eBay
of Kern have played a role in almost 460
movies according to the county’s count.
“The Grapes of Wrath” (1940) Lamont
chief’s
“North by Northwest” (1959) Wasco
“Psycho” (1960) Bakersfield
new bid
“Every Which Way But Loose”
(1978) Bakersfield
“Cannonball Run” (1981) Mojave
is political
“Jurassic Park” (1992) Red Rock Canyon BY BRAD STONE
N.Y. Times News Service
“Speed” (1994) Mojave Airport
SAN FRANCISCO — Meg Whit-
“Deep Impact” (1998) Mt. Pinos man, a former chief executive of
“Erin Brockovich” (2000) Boron eBay, once said that running the
Internet auction site was like being
“Ocean’s 13” (2007) Rosamond the mayor of a large city, with the
Source: Kern County mix of politics, competing con-
stituencies and widespread resist-
ance to change.
The Twenty Mule Team Museum created an Now Whitman, 52, says she is
exhibit with photos from the shoot. The staff ready to be the governor of Califor-
didn’t plan to keep it up more than two or nia, a state nearly paralyzed by its
three years after the shoot, says docent Jean political and fiscal problems. But
Hollopeter, but it became a permanent dis- with her legacy at eBay not clear
play. cut, she is trying to define her expe-
“People are still interested when they come rience in the most favorable terms
in,” she says. as she explores a run for the
Sometimes fans are out of luck because their Republican nomination in 2010.
favorite scene was filmed on private property, “I’m pretty
Hook says. convinced that
Reputation and familiarity breed business. the next governor
When crews become familiar with the area, of California is
they’re more likely to return. “Brockovich” going to have to
director Steven Soderbergh and his location plant herself in
manager returned to eastern Kern to shoot Sacramento
scenes for “Ocean’s Thirteen.” A Mexican fac- 24/7, 365 days a
tory in the film is actually an old graphite plant year,” Whitman
in Rosamond. said in a recent
“That’s always the crack-up for me, to watch interview. “It’s
Whitman
a scene that’s in this area and they’re telling me going to require
this factory is in Mexico,” he says. “No, it’s not.” listening, understanding policy
So has he lost the all-important suspension alternatives, and building collabo-
of disbelief when he goes to the movies? ration and relationships that allow
“It doesn’t spoil it, but it could be a film that the state to move forward. It’s
isn’t shot here,” he says. “I go to the movies another eBay.”
religiously. In the back of my mind, (I think), Whitman, who announced on
‘Where did they film that and, oh, why didn’t Feb. 9 that she had formed an
they film here?’” exploratory campaign committee,
said she was motivated to run by
her love for California and a reluc-
tance to see it “spiral downward.”
But some former colleagues sug-
gest that she may be unprepared

Ever wonder why popular films don’t win Oscars? for the glare of the political stage,
saying she took her public setbacks
very personally, including her
BY A.O. SCOTT days in the eight-decade history of unsuccessful candidacy for the top
N.Y. Times News Service "The “Paul Blart: the Oscars — serendipitous job at Disney after Michael Eisner
Reader." Mall Cop.” left in 2005.

Y
ou may not care about the moments when mass taste, artis-
Oscars, but the Oscars defi- tic distinction and a majority of Whitman dismisses that con-
nitely don’t care about you. academy votes magically fell into cern. “I don’t think you get into this
The producers and broadcast- alignment. It can happen again, game unless you have a very thick
ers of the Academy Awards cere- but most of the time it doesn’t. skin and can take it,” she said. “It’s
mony want us all to watch, of In other words, the Oscars have just the nature of the industry, if
course, and they fret about the always been trivial, and are best you will, and I’m as prepared as
decline in ratings. There has appreciated when they are anyone can be.”
already been ritualistic worrying allowed to be. They have over the Whitman predicted that her
about the low box-office returns years provided an annual campaign could cost $150 million,
collected by some of the best pic- sideshow, where the stars dress much of it coming from her own
ture nominees this year. up, the host cracks awkward jokes fortune.
While “Slumdog Millionaire” and the viewing population feasts On the Republican side, Whit-
and “The Curious Case of Ben- for a few hours on the inimitable man would face a considerable
jamin Button” have done pretty combination of vulgarity and challenge from the state insurance
well, the combined grosses of the high-mindedness that defines the commissioner, Steve Poizner, one
other three would barely reach the columnists and trade paper erate concentration camp guard image of Hollywood. of the few in his party to win
bellybutton of “Paul Blart: Mall wiseguys, which condemns the have sex with a teenager. What is And to the extent that this year’s statewide office recently. Like her,
Cop.” Has the Academy of Motion elitism of the academy. Don’t wrong with you people? Oscars will uphold this tradition, Poizner has deep Silicon Valley
Picture Arts and Sciences lost those academicians understand Underlying both the sighs of the supplying a dash of sentimentality, pockets. A former congressman,
touch — or broken faith — with that the people want “Friday the art lovers and the grumblings of sweet (those “Slumdog Million- Tom Campbell, is also a likely con-
the moviegoing public? 13th” and “The Dark Knight,” the democrats is a rose-tinted aire” kids) or bitter (Heath Ledger), tender for the nomination to suc-
The question makes sense only Harry Potter and Pixar? memory of the days when good a spoonful of suspense (Mickey ceed the Republican incumbent,
if you believe that any such faith The response is simply to turn movies were popular and popular Rourke or Sean Penn?) and per- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who
existed in the first place, or that the accusation on its head, to movies were good, and the Acade- haps even a surprise (Melissa is barred by term limits from run-
the moviegoing public is some- answer fake populism with ersatz my Awards floated serenely in the Leo!), they may exceed the low ning again.
thing more than a mathematical high-mindedness and lament the cultural mainstream. Remember expectations that surround them. There are several big names on
abstraction. But hand-wringing coarsening of popular taste. “The Godfather”? A heck of a pic- The problem is, a combination the Democratic side, including
about the state of the audience Offered an exquisite delicacy like ture, that one — a blockbuster and of entertainment-media overkill Attorney General Jerry Brown,
has become such a staple of “The Reader,” Americans flock to, a critical favorite, the film of the and film industry anxiety, gave Mayors Gavin Newsom of San
Oscar-season that it deserves um, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” Appar- year and one for the ages. Oscars a cultural and economic Francisco and Antonio R. Vil-
some unpacking. ently you’d rather watch an over- Those were the days. importance that they can’t possi- laraigosa of Los Angeles, and per-
There is a fake-populist version, weight shopping center guard Actually, though, there have bly sustain — and were never haps even Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
favored by hard-nosed business chase bad guys than watch an illit- been only about three or four such meant to have in the first place. who has not ruled out a bid.

ronment, and people,” said Doug Sunday news shows

DROUGHT: West side won’t
get any federal allocations
CONTINUED FROM A1
has already led many farmers to
fallow fields and retreat into sur-
vival mode with low-mainte-
nance and low-labor crops.
Last year, during the second
year of the drought, more than
100,000 acres of the 4.7 million in
the valley were left unplanted,
and experts predict that number
could soar to nearly 850,000 acres
this year.
Less planting will almost cer-
tainly lead to shorter supplies and
higher prices in produce aisles.
California is the nation’s biggest
producer of tomatoes, almonds,
avocados, grapes, artichokes,
onions, lettuce, olives and dozens
of other crops.
The situation is particularly
acute in towns along the valley’s
western side, where farmers
learned on Friday that federal
officials anticipate a “zero alloca-
tion” of water from the Central
Valley Project, the massive New
Deal system of canals and reser-
voirs that irrigates 3 million acres
of farmland. If the estimate holds
and the spring remains dry, it
would be first time ever that
farmers faced a season-long cut-
off from federal waters.
“Farmers are very resilient, we
make things happen, but we’ve
never had a zero allocation,” said
Stephen Patricio, president of
“In some of these
small west-side
towns, it’s going to
hit the people who
are least able to
adapt to it.”
— Richard Howitt, the chairman of
the agricultural and resource eco-
nomics department at the University
of California, Davis
Westside Produce, a melon han-
dler and harvester. “And I might
not be very good at math, but
zero means zero.”
Farmers can irrigate without
federal supplies using water pro-
vided by the state authorities,
which is drawn from wells and
bought or transferred from other
farmers. Such water may not
always be the best quality, said
Mark Borba, a fourth-generation
farmer in Huron, “but it’s wet.”
Environmental groups fear a
range of potential problems as
more water sources are tapped,
including depletion of the valley
aquifer from well pumping, possi-
ble dust-bowl conditions in areas
with large patches of fallow
ground and a devastating impact
on salmon and other wildlife.
“It’s a tough year for the envi-
Obegi, a lawyer with the Natural
Resources Defense Council.
Richard Howitt, the chairman
of the agricultural and resource
economics department at the
University of California, Davis,
estimates that 60,000 to 80,000
farming and ancillary jobs could
be lost, and that as much as
$2.2 billion in crop and other loss-
es could be caused by restrictions
on water and the drought, which
he called “being hydrologically as
bad as 1977 and economically as
bad as 1991.”
“You’re talking about fieldwork-
ers, processing handlers, people
packing melons, trucking hay,
sprayers, people selling tractors,
people selling lunches to people
selling tractors,” Howitt said. “And
in some of these small west-side
towns, it’s going to hit the people
who are least able to adapt to it.”
One of the hardest hit areas is
the farmland served by the West-
lands Water District, which
receives water exclusively from
the Central Valley Project and dis-
tributes it to 600,000 acres in
Fresno and Kings Counties. Sarah
Woolf, a spokeswoman for the
district, said that her 700 mem-
bers expected to leave 300,000 to
400,000 acres fallow and that
some might not come back to
farm at all.
“Everyone’s trying to go down
fighting,” Woolf said. “But there
will be significant companies
that will go out of business, as
well as families that have been
farming for generations, if it
doesn’t get better.”
CALIFORNIAN WIRE SERVICES
Guests scheduled for today’s
major TV news shows:
“Fox News Sunday”
8 a.m. on KBFX/Channel 58
Govs. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., Jennifer
Granholm, D-Mich., Mark Sanford,
R-S.C., and Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.
CNN’s “State of the Union”
6 a.m. on CNN/Cable 46
Govs. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., Deval NBC’s “Meet the Press”
Patrick, D-Mass., and Schwarzeneg- 4 p.m. on KGET/Channel 17
ger; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Govs. Bobby Jindal, R-La., and Char-
Donovan. lie Crist, R-Fla.
Iraq deaths
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As of Saturday, at least 4,247
members of the U.S. military had
died in the Iraq war since it began
in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
The figure includes eight military
civilians killed in action. At least
3,411 military personnel died as a
result of hostile action, according to
the military’s numbers.
The British military has reported 179
deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland,
21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark,
seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia,
four; Latvia and Georgia, three each;
Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and
Romania, two each; and Australia,
Hungary, Kazakhstan and South
ABC’s “This Week”
8 a.m. on KERO/Channel 23
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
R-Calif.
CBS’ “Face the Nation”
8:30 a.m. on KBAK/Channel 29
Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan;
Govs. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., Mitch
Daniels, R-Ind., and Ted Strickland,
D-Ohio.
Korea, one death each.
The latest deaths reported by
the military:
A soldier died Saturday while
conducting a combat patrol near
Baghdad.
The latest identifications
reported by the military:
Army Pfc. Cwislyn K. Walter, 19,
Honolulu died Thursday in Kuwait
City, Kuwait, of injuries sustained
from a noncombat-related incident;
assigned to the 29th Special Troops
Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade
Combat Team of the Hawaii
National Guard.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2009 THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN A5

PENSIONS: Market crash last fall wiped out state plan

CONTINUED FROM A1
police and firefighter unions.
“It’s a very big deal in cities and govern-
ment agencies,” said Steven Frates, sen-
ior fellow at the Rose Institute of State
and Local Government at Claremont
McKenna College.
It’s not just a matter of numbers. It’s
about who pays, and who takes the risk.
And, according to some, it’s about who
gets the credit.
Councilman David Couch said the
issue isn’t impossible, so long as both
sides negotiate with cool heads.
“This problem is solvable,” he said.
“Both management and labor cannot
take options off the table without under-
standing them all the way through.”
Scrivner and Councilman Ken Weir say
the city simply cannot meet its pension
obligations and keep providing services.
HOW WE COMPARE tion and a captain in the Bakersfield Fire 2007, numbers, the last available. The
Department, thinks the pair want to cut police fund was 90 percent funded, and
What other governments contribute: pension benefits so that they can be the fire and miscellaneous plans were
Percentage SAFETY NON-SAFETY heroes to a segment of the Republican 105 percent and 103 percent funded,
at age Pct. Age Pct. Age Party that targets employee benefits. respectively.
Bakersfield 3 50 2.7 50 “They want to take us backwards. It’s But that was before the market crash.
Shafter 3 55 2 55 political, and they want to wear it as a And that’s only the pension side. The
badge of honor,” Tisinger said. “Most of city hasn’t kept up with its obligations for
Fresno 2.7 55 2 55
the people jumping up and down about retiree medical care.
Kern Co. 3 50 *1.62 50 our pensions are so wealthy they don’t In the short term, the city’s payments
*Plus match into individual account need pensions.” are expected to worsen — the market col-
How bad is it? The actuaries, according lapse last fall took one-third of the value
to Frates, want a city’s pension fund to be of the state-run pension plan with it, so
They’re the only two members not there at least 90 percent funded. When it gets the liability is expected to spike, and with
in 2001 when the council increased pen- less than 80 percent, that’s a sign it’s really it the city’s required annual payments.
sions. in bad shape. In the long term, the city’s debt contin-
But Derek Tisinger, president of the Bakersfield’s pensions were well above ues to grow, and eventually every dollar
Bakersfield Firefighters Labor Organiza- that, at least according to the June 30, will come due.

The problem
Retirement benefits
Half the debt — $96 million
— is for the city’s pension plans.
The plan was set up so the city
would never go into debt, but it
hasn’t worked out that way.
When an employee starts
work, his or her pension bene-
fit is calculated, based on when
the employee is expected to
retire and die. Then the worker
and city put money into the
fund while the employee
works, so the pension cash is
available when the employee
retires.
That annual contribution is
called the “normal cost.”
But here’s reality:
The City Council sweetened
the pensions in 2001, giving
police and fire personnel 3-at-
50: 3 percent of their salary per
year worked, at a retirement
age of 50. The city suddenly
owed its employees more than
it had been putting in, creating
an unfunded liability.
That was part of a statewide
trend that started with the Cali-
fornia Highway Patrol and
seemed affordable at the time,
with the stock market riding
high. A year later, employees in
other departments got 3-at-60:
the same benefit, but a later
retirement age.
Sometimes actuaries are
wrong about when employees
retire and die, and have to
adjust calculations.
The money in the fund is
invested by CalPERS — the
state Public Employees Retire-
ment System — in the markets.
Sometimes the market does so
well it doesn’t look like the city
will have to put any money in
at all. Other times it drops so
much it exacerbates the
unfunded liability.
The result is that the city’s
pension plans — one for police,
one for the Fire Department,
one for other employees —
have a total debt of $96 million.
The money the city pays for
that is in addition to the nor-
mal cost.
CalPERS took a beating in the
market over the last six
months, and that’s likely to be
passed on to Bakersfield in a
few years.
“It’s going to make the state
budget look like a picnic,” said
Mike Turnipseed, director of
the Kern County Taxpayers
Association.
Not necessarily, said CalPERS
spokesman Edd Fong. It’s PERS’
condition on June 30 that mat-
ters — the state of the market
this summer will determine the
city’s payments for 2011-2012.
And even if the market — and
thus PERS’ asset portfolio —
doesn’t recover, the fund is so
large that it can amortize mar-
ket gains and losses over years.
So the city’s rates would go up,
but not in proportion to PERS’
losses.
But Ed Mendel, a reporter
who follows PERS on his blog
CalPensions.com, says the
city’s bill could spike by a
third that year, despite the
fund’s “smoothing” policy.
The city could have
planned for the bad times by
saving money when times
were good, said Steven
Frates of the Rose Institute of
State and Local Government
at Claremont McKenna Col-
lege. Some cities did that.
Most, including Bakersfield,
didn’t.
Medical liabilities
The other half of the debt is
Are we like Vallejo?
for medical benefits for
retirees. The city of Vallejo had to file for
It’s a benefit that the city has bankruptcy — is Bakersfield in
already taken steps to cut —
new employees haven’t gotten
A BRIEF the same boat?
it for the past two years. HISTORY Vallejo’s official Web page on
the filing says that city spends
It costs about $4 million a
2001: City agrees about 75 percent of its general
year to pay for the benefit with unions fund on personnel. Bakersfield
earned by employees each
to increase benefits is similar, spending 68 percent
year, and the city now makes to 3-at-50. to 78 percent of its general
that payment. But it didn’t fund on personnel — and that
2002: City agrees to raise
always sock away money for applied before the big pension
the future — it used to pay bills benefits to 3-at-60. increase at the beginning of the
as they came in — allowing a Stock market begins decade.
$108 million future liability to to slide, bottoming
But Vallejo’s City Council, riding
build up. out in October. high on property taxes in the
Two years ago, the city put
2003: Stock market mid-decade bubble, agreed to
itself on a plan to pay that lia-
regains value. increases in public safety
bility off over the next 30 years,
salaries totaling more than 20
writing a check for about 2008: Stock market percent over three years. When
$3.6 million each year, bringing crashes. the market crashed and
the annual total for health care property tax revenue crashed
costs to $8.1 million this year.
But financial responsibility LOOKING with it, the city was stuck with
the bill for the promises it
proved too expensive this year, AHEAD made.
and the City Council pulled June 30, 2009: CalPERS Bakersfield hasn’t made
$2.5 million out of that fund to will use value of its assets concessions anywhere so high.
plug holes in the city budget. this date to determine
So while Vallejo may be a useful
So contributions in future how much the city
cautionary tale, Bakersfield is
years, already slated to be more must pay in 2011-2012
far from that situation.
expensive, will cost even more.
$25.6
Bakersfield’s growing $23.7 $23.6 $24.4
pension costs $19.9
Fiscal years;
Dollars in millions $11.7
$6.3
$4.2 $4.5
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09
Source: City of Bakersfield JAMES GELUSO AND KENT KUEHL / THE CALIFORNIAN

The solution “I’m busy doing my job. I don’t

City Councilman Zack Scrivn-
er doesn’t want to lower pension
benefits negotiated for existing
employees, saying “a deal’s a
deal.”
But he would like to change it
for new employees — raising the
retirement age, lowering the
benefit, or converting from a
pension, with its guaranteed
benefits for life, to a 401(k)-style
plan. The 401(k) would mean the
employees, not the taxpayers,
bear the risk of market gyrations,
Scrivner said.
Derek Tisinger, president of
the Bakersfield Firefighters
Labor Organization, and Bill
Ware, president of the Bakers-
field Police Officers Association,
said the employees gave up siz-
able salary increases to get the
pension benefits.
The city’s own figures show
Bakersfield pays well less than
comparable cities. It compares
better when only valley cities are
considered.
Stalling may work, in the long
run. If the market recovers, that
will take care of the unfunded
liability. In the short term, the
city’s rates in 2011-12 will be
based on where the market is on
June 30, and few people are pre-
dicting a market rally.
Here are the options:
Raise the retirement age to
55. The city brought this propos-
al to the police and firefighters
during current negotiations.
Scrivner said that would eventu-
ally save the city $1.2 million a
year in today’s dollars — but the
full savings wouldn’t be recog-
nized until every current
employee retires.
Both unions opposed it.
“What’s the average age of a
gang member?” Ware said. “Can
you imagine a 55-year-old man
trying to wrestle an 18-year-old
kid?”
Tisinger said firefighting is “a
young man’s job” and disability
retirements spike when fire-
fighters have to work another
five years.
Lower the benefit. The city
did this with nonsafety employ-
ees, dropping the benefit from 3
have time to play with stocks
and bonds all the time.”
— Derek Tisinger, president of the Bakersfield Firefighters Labor
Organization, on having a 401(k)
percent per year to 2.7. In
exchange, the city lowered the
retirement age from 60 to 55.
And employees hired since
2006 — including firefighters —
won’t get the same medical ben-
efits when they retire as those
hired before.
Ware said police officers
wouldn’t stay at Bakersfield
when they can get better deals
elsewhere. Fresno faces that
problem, he said.
Increase employee contribu-
tions. This is what the firefight-
ers have offered. Currently,
police and firefighters con-
tribute to the pension system
only in their first five years. Then
the city takes over the contribu-
tion.
Under the firefighters’ propos-
al, all employees — those on the
force now as well as future
employees — would pay 1 per-
cent of their salary into the fund.
In the short term, it would be a
1 percent pay cut, or at least a
reduction in their raise.
City Manager Alan Tandy said
the move would, in the short
term, save as much money as
changing the benefit structure.
But in the long term, the city
would still face increasing costs.
Councilman David Couch, an
investment manager, said he
wants to see more hard numbers
about the effects of various pro-
posals.
“The bottom line is how much
money comes out of the city’s
general fund to pay for benefits,
period,” he said.
But it’s encouraging that the
firefighters brought the proposal
forward, he said.
Convert to a 401(k)-like plan.
Scrivner, Couch and fellow
Councilman Ken Weir say the
defined-contribution system,
such as a 457(k) plan — the pub-
lic-sector version of a 401(k) — is
best. The risk of a market col-
lapse would be borne by the
employees, not the city and its
taxpayers, Scrivner said.
But the private sector has
moved to 401(k) plans largely
because of the hassle of admin-
istrating pensions and because
of federal laws that apply to
businesses, but not to govern-
ments, said Edd Fong, a
spokesman for PERS. And the
professional money managers
of a large pension system can
produce better returns than
individuals.
That resonates with Tisinger.
“Talk to anybody right now
who has a 401(k) and ask if they
would rather be in pensions,”
Tisinger said. “I’m busy doing
my job. I don’t have time to play
with stocks and bonds all the
time.”

YOUR MONEY

Obama stimulus has help for students, unemployed

BY V. DION HAYNES
The Washington Post
President Obama’s $787 bil-
lion economic stimulus plan
provides billions of dollars to
not only state and local gov-
ernments, highway depart-
ments, national parks, police
departments and schools,
but also to consumers.
Whether the ambitious
array of programs will speed
the recovery is an open ques-
tion. But the immediate con-
cern for consumers is how
the funds may stimulate
their personal economies.
Financial planners, tax
advisers and other experts
are only beginning to wrap
their minds around the
changes, but here are two big
ones that may help you:
College students
Seeking to offset the steady
escalation in college tuition,
the stimulus plan offers
assistance to students in all
income groups.
Under the plan, Pell grants
for needy students will be
increased from $4,731 to
$5,350 in July. The grants will
rise to $5,550 during the
2010-11 school year.
The plan also will add $200
million to the $1.1 billion
work-study budget, allowing
tens of thousands more stu-
dents to earn an average of
$1,479 to help pay tuition.
Funds from 529 college-
savings plans, whose partici-
pants mainly include middle-
and upper-income students,
for the first time can be used
to pay for computers, educa-
tion software and Internet
service. Previously, the mon-
ey could only be withdrawn
to cover tuition, room and But the most dramatic more a month for insurance.
board, and books. change involves the medical Under the stimulus, the
insurance program for the federal government will sub-
Unemployed workers unemployed, called COBRA. sidize 65 percent of the cost
The government is provid- It requires employers to for nine months. The gov-
ing more than $7 billion for extend workers who quit or ernment will do that by
programs targeting the were laid off the chance to requiring employers to pay
unemployed. States will get continue their health-care the 65 percent portion
funds allowing them to coverage by paying 100 per- upfront then allow them to
increase aid by $25 a week, cent of the premium. (People deduct those costs from
extend by nine months the in the program must pay their Social Security and
time unemployed people can another 2 percent to cover Medicare taxes.
receive the checks, revise the administrative costs incurred The plan has a retroactive
eligibility requirements so by their former employers in feature. It allows workers
more people can receive pay- extending the coverage.) who became jobless as early
ments and offer more job- Unemployed workers with as Sept. 1 and rejected cover-
training programs. families can pay $1,000 or age to reconsider.