KPD officer sues city over pension

Knoxville police officer Ed Kingsbury says the city pension board is failing to credit him fairly for his U.S. military service.

Since 1984, Knoxville's city charter has allowed veterans employed as police officers to purchase up to four years' worth of military service credit, to apply toward pension eligibility.

Kingsbury, a US Air Force veteran, joined KPD in 1993. Back then, Kingbsury's attorney Don Bosch wrote in an appeal filed Friday, the city didn't actively inform veterans they could purchase that military service credit.

"When Plaintiff Kingsbury joined the Knoxville Police Department in 1993, and through no fault of his own, he was not advised of the opportunity to purchase credit for his military service," Bosch wrote in the appeal.

In 2000, the city amended its charter to limit the time frame in which a veteran can apply for the benefit, (where there previously was no time limit). That amendment, which became effective in 2001, requires a veteran to apply for the benefit "in writing within six months of the employee's first employment anniversary date."

Kingsbury, however, didn't learn about the opportunity until 2014, Bosch said.

The veteran and police officer now wants to buy into the benefit at the price it would have cost him back in 1993: an estimated $18,082, since he would have done so at the time had he been informed of its availability, Bosch wrote.

Kingsbury initially approached the board in May of 2014, asking members to review the charter and his situation.

The city pension board, however, told Kingsbury he must pay, "$74,468, accounting for inflation on the 1993 price and interest the money would have earned," Bosch detailed in the document.

In January of this year, Kingsbury once again approached the board and "objected that he should not be required to pay the entire 2014 actuarial cost," Bosch wrote.

While eventually acknowledging the city's failure to notify Kingsbury of the benefit, the board rejected Kingsbury's request to purchase it at the 1993 price. That was at a hearing in April.

Rest of story RIGHT HERE.

So what's the deal with ex-Trustee Lowe's 'pension'; lips are sealed

When former Knox County Trustee Mike Lowe pleaded guilty to felony theft last month a big question on everyone’s mind was whether he would keep his pension

Well, first there’s no guarantee he has a pension, but he did have a county retirement account. At one time.

County officials prior to the early 1990s had pensions. The county then set up an “asset accumulation” retirement plan, which acts like a 401(k), and invited employees to join it. Most did. Hey, the 90s where booming and there was a ton of coin to be made.

From what I understand, Lowe was enrolled in the asset accumulation plan – or at least he got under it – before he left the county.

From what I’ve gathered, he also withdrew that money, but I’m not positive.

So, will he lose his pension for pleading guilty? No. He more than likely didn’t have one. Will he lose his retirement? No, he more than likely withdrew it (and probably took a massive hit from the IRS.)

Will we ever know?

Probably not.

I submitted a request to the pension board, which in turn was handed over to the board’s attorneys.

They told me to go play in traffic. Albeit, politely.

They said the pension board is unable to provide me with access to Lowe’s file or respond to my questions. The attorneys then cited Tennessee Code Annotated Section 10-7-504(f)(1) and said the information is confidential.

That TCA code notes the following as confidential:

Bank account and individual health savings account, retirement account, and pension account information, provided that nothing shall limit access to financial records of a governmental employer that show the amounts and sources of contributions to such accounts or the amount of pension or retirement benefits provided to the employee or former employee by the governmental employer.

Whatever. The board still could have said whether he keeps it or not. Answering that question is not confidential.

Pension contributions to decrease

Well, here’s some good news. At this point it looks like contributions for the upcoming fiscal year, which kicks off July 1, will be down for the county’s three pension plans, according to county Finance Director Chris “Money Bags” Caldwell.

Here’s how it’s looking:

Last year (technically in this current budget), the county contributed $3 million for what’s dubbed the “old county” or “DB” plan, which closed in 1991. This year, the county is expected to contribute between $2.7 million and $2.9 million.

The county also last year kicked in $1.7 million for the old school plan, which it assumed from the city and closed in the late 1980s. This year, it will put up between $1.3 million and $1.5 million.

The county contributed $4.5 million into the Uniformed Officer’s Pension Plan, or UOPP, which closed to new employees at the beginning of this year. (The $4.5 million does not include bond payments, which were needed to get the plan up and running.)

This year, the county is expected to contribute between $3.7 million and $3.9 million.

That means the overall savings for the two plans could range between $900,000 and $1.5 million.

Caldwell said the decrease comes as the county’s investments exceed their expected interest rates for calendar year 2013. The county’s expected rate of return on its investments is 7 percent, which is pretty reasonable and fairly conservative compared to the rest of the nation.

KCSO retirement plan set for vote

A little more than nine months after voters opted to close the Knox County Sheriff's Office pension plan, officials are set to implement a newly crafted retirement program - one that still maintains attractive benefits for law enforcement personnel, but won't cost taxpayers quite as much.

If approved, the Sheriff's Total Asset Accumulation Retirement plan, or STAR, would affect law enforcement and corrections officers hired after next Jan. 1. Current officers would keep their traditional pensions.

The Knox County Commission will talk more about the proposal during its work session next Monday and vote on it later this month.

"Law enforcement is a young man's game," said Commissioner Ed Shouse, a pension board member, who served on the committee that drafted the plan. "Do you want a 60-year-old man chasing down a burglar or a couple of 26-year-old guys? The cost is almost the same, but this plan encourages people to come into (the Sheriff's Office) and work 25 years and hopefully be able to take an early retirement in their mid 50s. "

STAR, a defined contributions plan, replaces the Uniformed Officers Pension Plan, or UOPP, a defined benefit plan that gives those with 30 years of service a pension at 75 percent of their two highest years' salary, plus a yearly 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment.

Voters initially approved the UOPP in 2006 after proponents said it would benefit the lower-paid deputies and jailers who could not afford to retire under the general county plan, which works like a 401(k).

The pension program, though, was costly and critics argued that it included employees not actively fighting crime. The stock market, too, was unkind and the plan's annual contribution costs jumped. This year, the county will put in $8.5 million, three times what was first projected, although $4 million of that will cover the bonds issued to fund the plan at its inception.

Officials, led by Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, brought the pension plan before residents last year, and voters by a 3-to-1 margin agreed to close it and directed the county pension board to create a new one.

"The (pension) wasn't going to be financially feasible," the mayor said."But I think (the STAR plan) is going to be great for our law enforcement. It addresses their future needs and it's also responsible to the taxpayers. And that's what we wanted - something equitable for everybody."

The new plan requires employees to contribute 6 percent of pay and the county puts in 10 percent. In addition, the county puts another 2 percent into a medical reimbursement plan to offset medical premiums and costs for the retirees from the time they leave the job until they're eligible for Medicare.

Click right smack here to read the rest of this bad a$$ story.

Moody's changes shouldn't affect Knox

This stuff kind of boring, but certainly important, although whether it affects Knox County remains to be seen. Now, THAT was a schizophrenic sentence.

Anyhoo, here's the deal: Moody's Investors Service, a nationally recognized bond credit rating agency, is changing the way it analyzes pension plans for local governments as it puts more emphasis on the risks associated with the retirement programs. Now, I'm assuming this has to do with new GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) changes, but I'm not going to get into that. (If you know what it is, then you know the changes and don't need me to explain. If you don't know what it is, I doubt you'll care.)

Still, the bottom line is that things are going to change, and for some the outlook might not look so rosy. Right now, as I recall, Knox County has an Aa1 rating, which is its highest ever. That's mostly because we've got super low taxes and the mere fact that we can raise them without bankrupting the community makes Moody's feel all warm and fuzzy.

Still, a healthy reserve tank doesn't hurt either, so expect Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett to push to put any remaining surplus monies – and there's going to be a bunch – into the reserve tank.

Pension contributions up next year

Contributions to the county's three pension plans for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, are expected to increase by about $500,000.

Knox County's pension board will ask the administration to contribute $4.5 million to the Uniformed Officer's Pension Plan (this is actually down a little bit from the current year); $1.75 million for the old school plan, which closed in the late 1980s; and $2.5 million to the old county employee plan, which closed in 1991.

Two to return to Knox pension board

Knox County Pension Board members Nick McBride and Joe Snyder were re-elected to serve on the board. (The elections were on Feb. 14. No, seriously.)

Only county employees vote in these things. Joe got 30 votes. Nick received 130.

Hahahahaha. Big turnout.

Anyhoo, Nick's seat seat represents county employees under the traditional retirement plan and the Sheriff's Office plan. Joe's seat represents school employees who are not covered in the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, which covers state employees, public school teachers, etc.

The pension board is comprised on nine members. Four are county commissioners, two come from the school side, two come from the general employee side and one is technically the county mayor, although he typically uses the county's finance director as a proxy.

In addition to the pension board, there were elections to fill three seats on the county's Medical Insurance Appeal Board.

Timothy Wheeler, who got 57 votes and faced no competition, will represent seat C.

Stephanie Minor, who got 27 votes and also faced no competition, will represent seat B.

And, Tom Salter, who received 30 votes, will represent seat A. Tom defeated two others – Dennis Irwin (3 votes) and Jennifer Valentine (25 votes).

Was that pension meeting sunshined?

The county pension board's documents committee met yesterday to talk about the new retirement plan for the Knox County Sheriff's Office. Story right smack here.

One item of note that wasn't in the article: I'm pretty sure this was not a sunshined meeting. I'm not 100 percent positive, but I certainly didn't get anything from the pension board office, nor did I see anything in the legal section.

If true, this is the same thing that happened back in 2006 when the first plan was put together: The media and the public for that matter were not informed about the committee meeting dates. Subsequently, they got no coverage and no one knew just what the heck kind of plan we were going to get. (Pension board officials said they put up a notice on a wall in the Deathstar. That wall, by the way, was down a long, narrow hallway that folks in the public – not counting county retirees and employees – rarely visit.

Anyhoo, I found out about the meeting on Tuesday while talking to Commissioner Ed Shouse. He mentioned it. I was pretty surprised. (Ed sits on the pension board and I should add that it's not his job to sunshine document committee meetings, but he does a good job of letting people know about this kind of stuff.)

I later get a copy of the letter that was sent to the five members of the document committee and a handful of others. You can find that bad boy, by clicking right smack here.

Now, if you're looking at it (you did click, right?), you'll notice that the memo actually states that Thursday's meeting is actually a rescheduled meeting from one that was supposed to happen on Tuesday. Yeah, I don't think the one on Tuesday was sunshined, either.

Further, you might also see that Thursday's meeting was set for 2 a.m. Thursday. Good thing that was a typo.

I think.

Forum tomorrow to discuss charter

The Knoxville-Knox County League of Women Voters tomorrow evening will host a form about the proposed amendments to the Knox County Charter that will appear on the November ballot. (No word on the city charter's proposed amendments, but considering everyone ignores the city . . . .)

The shindig kicks off at 7 p.m. in the Main Assembly room of the Deathstar.

Here's some background on the proposals right smack here.

And here's what the KNS editorial board has to say.

Obviously the two big things on the county's side (cause, again, no one cares about the city) are the pension program and term limits.

A couple folks from the Knox County Charter Review Committee, a couple of Knox County Commissioners (have they sun shined this meting yet?????) and some guy from one of those TV channels will be there to talk about this stuff.

I, however, won't be there. I'm taking a few days off. The voices are starting to speak to me again.

Rogero proposes five pension alternatives

Looks like Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero is serious about this pension stuff. But she has to be, considering Gov. Big Bill who held her seat for almost eight years turned a blind eye to it the whole time.

Then, as an afterthought just as he was heading to Nashville to hang with the beautiful people, thought it might just be a good thing to let folks know how bad the situation is.

Anyhoo, this morning, the Rogero administration's zillion-dollar-a-year spin team issued a release that you can find right smack here.

In it, she outlines five alternative plans for future employees (you can't do anything to the people on the plan now or the retirees). She wants the City Council to begin talking about this at its workshop next Monday.

You can find links to the proposals right smack here.

Pension costs to jump, Lobetti retires

Never understood why most of the local media ignores the pension board meetings. Probably don't understand it. Or maybe they can't get a pretty picture to go with it. Or something. This is good stuff. Seriously.

The pension board meets Monday morning. There's a couple items of interest. The board will talk about the county's expected levels of contributions this year for the three pension plans (two of which are closed).

Back in late January, I wrote a story about the expected increases. Click right smack here for that bad boy.

Here are some more solid figures:

• In the current year, the county contributed $4.1 million to cover the Uniformed Officer's Pension Plan, or UOPP. This doesn't count costs toward paying off bonds. In the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1,, it's expected to be $4.6 million.
• The county this year contributed $1.5 million to a closed defined benefit plan for general employees (it closed in the early 1990s when they went on the asset accumulation plan, which is like a 401(k)). For this upcoming year, the board is asking the county to ante up almost $2.4 million.
• The county this year also chipped in a little more than $1 million for the “Old School” plan (this doesn't count bond payments, too). The board is asking for almost $1.2 million for the upcoming year.

Altogether, we're talking about an increase of $1.6 million.

In the meantime, a couple of folks in the Sheriff's Office are retiring effective April 1 (although I think they've already left).

First up is Dorothy Pinkston, the wife of former hellraisin' county Commissioner Paul Pinkston, the sharpest dresser on the commission and at one point an arch enemy of a certain former mayor. Dorothy worked for the county for more than 22 years. And no, she is not on the Sheriff's Office pension plan.

Next is Mose Lobetti, local political super spy, card player (or so the rumors go) and bailiff (when he's not a super spy). He is on the pension plan and worked for the county for more than 30 years. Actually, more like 3,000 years. Heh.

The board will talk about some other stuff, too, including its annual luncheon for county retirees and the charter review committee.

Big Sexy's big county spin continues

Michael “Big Sexy” Grider this morning released another one of his famous spin jobs – this time in the form of the Knox Happenings Newsletter.

Now, we at Screams from da Porch know that the only “newsletter” you need to be reading is right here at the old blog, but I'm going to humor Grider anyway.

Click right smack here for his March news thing. And right smack here for the archives.

BS started doing this not too long ago. He says it doesn't cost the county and he sends it out only by email. I think.

Anyhoo, it contains a lot of nice positive spin, like a blurb on the cash mob and something about getting in shape. And, of course, it's got a picture of county Mayor Tim Burchett looking all studious as he tells the public that a certain pension plan is costing too much in folding paper.

It's a nice thing, I suppose, since it shows that BS is sort of actually working. Now I'm waiting on the city, which pays it's public relations staff (combined) more than $200K in coin, to start one.

Hint, hint.

Holding breath now.

Pension plans to cost Knox more this year

Knox County will probably have to contribute between $5 million and $5.3 million to the Uniformed Officers Pension Plan, or UOPP, this upcoming fiscal year in order to keep it healthy, according to projections released this morning to the pension board.

That’s as much as $1.3 million more than the $4.1 million the county put in last summer. And that doesn’t include the $4.1 million in bond coin the county will also have to pay.

The Sheriff’s Office pension plan, however, isn’t the county’s only problem. Two closed plans – one for county officials and the old teacher’s plan – also need a cash injection. The county plan is expected to cost taxpayers another $600,000 to $800,000 and the Board of Education plan will cost an extra $150,000 to $250,000.

Last year the county plan cost about $1.5 million and the school plan cost $1.046 million.

The pension board plans to meet later in February to discuss the UOPP. At that time, members will talk about the plan’s liabilities, assumed rate of returns on investments and possible changes.

“We want to focus on the magnitude of the problem and what can get changed and what can’t,” said county Commissioner Richard Briggs, who also serves on the pension board.

Lobetti has two years to pay back coin

Yesterday, I noted how I had a bunch of scribblings left from Monday's pension board meeting. Good stuff. Heh.

Anyhoo, awhile back political operative Robert M. “Mose” Lobetti had a little debate with the board over some coin members say he owes.

Halls Shopper reporter Betty Bean wrote about it right smack here. Essentially, Mose, who has worked behind the scenes (and not so behind the scenes) on a number of political campaigns, including the recent failed effort by Mark Padgett to gain the Knoxville mayoral seat, is on the Uniformed Officers Pension Plan.

Yup, same plan that voters thought was for deputies, jailers and overall ass-kicking law enforcement officers out there risking their lives every day because they don't make a whole heck of a lot of money. But, yeah, he's on it, cause bailiffs (which are technically called courtroom security officers) are on it.

(Forgot one thing: Mose has also been involved in some Congressional races for the Duncans, but, uh, a trained monkey could run that family's campaign. They don't lose. In fact, if a Duncan doesn't get 80 percent of the vote, it's an upset. But, I digress.)

Soooo, some folks were pretty shocked that he's on the plan and owes some money. Again, read Bean's story for the background because I'm just jumping into what followed on Monday. Cause it's silly. And we like silly at Screams from da Porch.

Entertainment at the expense of others and all that.

(By the way, this guys is more connected to the incestuous relationships inside the Deathstar than then brick and mortar that hold the building together. So, if you think I'm picking on him – and I'm not – I don't really care. Public figure and all that. Plus, he goes around, wanting people to refer to him as “The Godfather.”)

So, the pension board/office wants the old dude to pay pack $13,000. (He should have paid it back a long time ago but, due to an “oversight,” he wasn't informed until – I think – earlier this year.)

That's the $11K he took out, plus some interest and 7.5 percent rate of return on investments even thought – during the lifetime of the UOPP – the rates have come in at negative 3.12, according to third quarter – it ended Sept. 30 – reports. (That was a mouthful.)

Heh. Good deal for the pension system. Bad deal for Mose. Now, Mose, 82, doesn't want to pay this back. And I don't blame him. But, if he doesn't, then he's not going to get the full benefits of the UOPP until the coin gets returned.

His attorney, Steve Sharp, also doesn't want him to have to pay it back. Can't blame him, either, since he's paid to not want Mose to have to pay it back.

Said Sharp: “Mr. Lobetti is not a wealthy man and $13,000 is a lot of money.”

Now, the pension board is willing to work with them. Members suggested giving him two years to pay it back. In monthly installments. (That would be $531.666 a month.)

Mose, visibly disgusted, didn't like that.

“They (the pension office) have known this for four years and didn't tell me, but I'm not blaming anybody,” he told the board.

Say what?

Mose, who makes $44,116.28 in annual salary, added: “It's going to be rough if I have to pay back (the money) every month. It may put me in bankruptcy.”

Now, historically, officials said, those transferred to the UOPP “had six months to repay any distributions to reinstate the time in the UOPP.”

Mose at one point also asked whether he could pay back part of the coin with a $10,000 life insurance policy or something or other he's had since 1950 when he served in the U.S. Navy.

Pension Board attorney Richard Beeler told him that wasn't gonna fly – no, he can't sign over a policy to the county.

Apparently frustrated, Mose told the board that when he joined the pension plan he turned over $130,000.

He made this out to be a big deal. Let me tell you something: That $130,000 isn't jack.

Under the Sheriff's Office defined benefit plan he's going to get $33,087 a year in retirement, plus a 3 percent cost of living adjustment each year. That's 75 percent of his total salary.

Now, how much a year do you think he's gonna get with that $130,000, which no doubt would be worth about 5 cents (give or take a penny) right now because of the stock market?

That's what I thought.

Now, people might think I'm being harsh, but, seriously, quit your whining.

Additionally, some folks at the meeting (and Mose a few months ago) made it out that Mose just HAD to take that $11,000 payout – that it was just forced right on into his wallet.

Nope. According to pension board executive director Kim Bennett, he received the minimal required distribution, but because he was employed, “it technically wasn't required that he take it.”

So, round and around we go.

Now, Mose says he doesn't understand “why I have to pay the interest.”

Uh . . . . Huh?

He said if the board gave him two years, then he'd pay back the $11,000. (Screw the interest or whatever, I suppose.)

Huh? So, make up your mind. Do you have the coin or not? What are you gonna do between now and then to raise $11K?

Never mind, don't answer that.

Eventually county commissioner and pension board member Richard Briggs wanted this mess to end. He said $13K was “a big chunk of money if you don't anticipate it or get blindsided by it.

He suggested giving Mose two years to repay it “with one stipulant (that's French by the way for “stipulating”): That he can't die in two years.”

He was kidding.

If Mose does, then the coin (which we will now refer to as “debt”) will be taken out of his death benefits that will be passed along to whoever.

So, the board – which at one point had no idea what it was voting to approve – agreed to give the guy two years to pay back what will eventually be more than $13K. Mose said he'll pay it in one lump sum at that time.

Bennett said her office will recalculate the coin and come back with the exact amount of scratch later. It's going to be more than $13K, but she has two years to come up with the new number.

In the meantime, Mose ain't gonna die. He'll make sure Congressman Jimmy Duncan gets a law passed to prevent that from happening.

Retirement plan audits to cost $42K

Sat in the pension board meeting Monday for more than two hours. Exciting stuff, I'll tell ya. No, really. Good stuff. Heh.

Anyhoo, I've got a notebook full of information, most of it will never see print because we don't have the space, so I'll start dumping some of it here on the ole blog.

The County Commission recently (it might have been Monday when I was sleeping) signed a four-year contract with Pugh and Company, which will serve as its external auditor. The Knoxville-based company also will work with the pension board.

Some officials, particularly Knox County Senior Director of Finance John “Mad Dog” Troyer, have been itching to get someone to audit the county's six retirement programs.

Now, don't go and get too excited. For someone who operates with the glass half full, even I seriously doubt they're going to find anything. (Other than investment returns kind of suck. But that's true pretty much everywhere.)

In fact, Troyer called it a “straight forward vanilla” audit. (Although he might have said a “Donila” audit.)

The IRS looked over some of the plans (if not all of them) not to long ago and didn't find anything. (As I recall there were some payroll issues or something to do with the county not putting in interest or whatnot, but the plans were pretty much clean.)

The pension board will pick up the tab – about $42,000 for the first year's audit. Executive Director Kim Bennett said the scratch will come from a pot of coins set aside to purchase new software.(She hinted pretty hard Monday to the board that if she uses this money for the audit, she'd still need the software in 2013. In other words, fellas, don't be surprised if I put some extra coinage in there 18 months from now!)

ON A SIDE NOTE: Ann Acuff, who is pretty much second-in-command of the county's finance office is (or has) retired. I met her a few times and she has always been very pleasant and very helpful. Her effective retirement date is Dec. 1. She's leaving after more than 46 years.

That's pretty cool. So congrats goes out to her.

Harmon doesn't get 3 pensions

Was asked a question the other day about Knoxville mayoral candidate Ivan Harmon (left).

Does he receive three or four pensions for his time as a city employee, city councilman, county commissioner and school board member (way back when it was under the city's purview)?

The quick answer is: No, he doesn't.

He gets one – from the city. And a 401k – from the county.

That was pretty much as far as I was going to go with the information. But because I'm under company policy to do a blog (despite claims otherwise from our Web guru), I need to post something.

Also, if one person was curious, maybe others are, too.

And pensions are a big deal right now. They're crippling governments everywhere. And Knoxville officials have even put together a committee to study the city's retirement plan.

So, I figure it will be an issue during the upcoming city election. And someone is bound to ask Harmon about it then.

Here's the deal (and all this information is public record):

Harmon gets a pension from the city for his time in the engineering department and on the council. He gets a 401k from his time on the commission. He apparently doesn't get anything for the two years he served on the school board.

His city pension is a complicated formula that I won't go into. But he's credited with a little more than 20 years of service with the city (12 years on the council, eight in the engineering department). Normally, he would get $1,983.42 a month in pension, payable for life.

However, Harmon elected to choose an alternate beneficiary to receive his pension. Upon his death, he receives $1,761 a month. His beneficiary will one day receive $1,286.09 a month. (By the way, it felt kind of ghoulish typing those last two sentences.)

Harmon, who began working in the engineering department in January 2002, retired “for pension purposes” in January 2010. Yes, he still worked but he enrolled in the city's delayed retirement option program (DROP). Under the plan, he can work for two more years. The pension money during those years accumulates into another money pot, and when the employee retires, he/she gets it paid out in a lump sum.

Harmon didn't stick around for the full two years, but he will get a one-time payment of $20,624.64.

On a side note, the pension formula is based on the two highest years of salary. I checked to see if he got any unusual last minute raises. He didn't.

Like all employees, he received a 2.5 increase in wages in July 2008 and in July 2009. (He also got $120 longevity bonus those years.) In total, Harmon left making $56,962.

In regards to his 401k, he gets whatever he paid in. Those numbers aren't as available as the city numbers, which fall under the state's open records laws.