Your Pension in the age of Corona

Unemployment

Everyone is experiencing the short term effects of the Corona virus. 22 million Americans have been laid off and our economy appears to be in a free fall.

Eventually most jobs (we hope) will be back, some will be lost for good. Where does Government get it's money? Taxes paid by business and employees. Even when the jobs come back the tax revenue to Government will be low and the cost of the epidemic high for years.

Where does our Pension get it's money?  Our pension is funded by employee contributions, employer contributions, and the performance of the stock market, where our money is invested. The other 2% comes from the General Fund. (The PERA Correctional Pension was funded at 98%. I have no idea what it will look like this year.)

The annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of our Correctional Pension is tied to two things. The amount Social Security pays out as their COLA and the overall financing of our Pension, most of which is tied to the Stock Market.

Currently we will receive up to 100% of the Social Security COLA capped at 2.5%, as long as our pension's funding is over 85% a year. If it falls to 80% funding for 1 year, or 85% funding for 2 years our COLA permanently drops to 1.5% max.

Our pension is based on is a 7.5% return on investment. 

The good news is mechanisms are in place to protect our fund. The bad news is our COLA may not keep up with inflation in years to come if the economy doesn't right itself soon enough.

I will keep you posted.

Big Pension News Coming

As my readers know I have been keeping a close watch on the PERA Correctional Pension.
The only Union protecting the PERA Correctional Pension with me has been MNPEA.

Others are now trying to take credit. Others who were willing to accept cuts to our pension.

Real long story short (for full story go back in this blog). On December 14, 2017 I was at the PERA Board Meeting. They were voting on Pension Funding proposals to the legislature. It was proposed to cut the COLA increases for the PERA Correctional Pension retirees.

During the discussion it was stated all of the "stakeholders" had been talked to and were on board for the cut. Those consulted and approving were Teamsters Local 320, AFSCME and LELS.

I raised my hand and asked if  MNPEA, one of the largest stakeholders had been notified. They had not! Rebecca Otto then moved the Correctional change be tabled until Director Doug Anderson had a chance to talk to the stakeholders (MNPEA the only group not consulted).

Tom Perkins of MNPEA and myself subsequently met with Doug Anderson who then recommended our COLA cap remain at 2.5% not the 1.5% agreed to by the other so called stakeholders.

The PERA Board had a special meeting on January 9, 2018 and voted to approve the 2.5%.

I am attaching the documentation from PERA's website. You will see no Teamsters present. AFSCME and Dave Matuslaem (then with the MPPOA) were all on board to cut our pension.

It angers me to hear these other groups now claiming they fought for our pension. They did not, only MNPEA. I was there!

WATCH THIS BLOG. VERY BIG NEWS IS COMING!

Staff shortages and overtime

The Star Tribune is reporting that

Audit: Staff shortages, failure to track assaults contribute to danger in Minnesota prisons

The article says:

Staff shortages in Minnesota prisons are driving a glut in overtime hours for correctional officers, making the facilities more dangerous, while corrections officials have failed to properly track assaults — and they don’t know just how unsafe their facilities are for prisoners and staff.

A couple of weeks ago I was at a retirement at my former haunt, the Hennepin County Jail. I was told of massive overtime and even housing units on lock-down all weekend due to lack of staff.

 Overtime is at a high. 

Reality is working as a Detention Deputy or CO is a good job. Good pay, benefits and even a pension. The job is dangerous, but if you are professional you will never be let go and will have fewer problems with the clientele. 

Retention becomes a problem when staff is short. Excessive overtime leads to burnout. Albeit there will be a nice paycheck. 

The conundrum is public employee pay rarely keeps up with the private sector. So when the economy is good like now few people want to work in a jail,(I wouldn't work that crap job. Is a comment I used to hear), but when the economy is bad, people are jealous of the pay and benefits.

Oddly this may be the best time to get into this career. The economy goes up and down but Corrections is a long term steady job. Not for everyone, you won't get rich but you will have a good middle class income.

Hennepin County Detention Deputy Dave General needs our help

Dave General is a man of honor, integrity and respect. He is a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a military veteran and a friend. Through the course of Dave’s life he has given back to his country, his community and his family. With a genetic disorder such as pulmonary fibrosis, it is Dave’s turn to fight the battle. 

Dave has spent a total of 26 years in the United States Military. Serving in the Minnesota National Guard, the Army National Guard and the United States Army. With 2 tours of duty behind him he was honorably discharged from the military in December of 2019.

In addition to Dave’s military service he has served fearlessly with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. As a Detention Deputy, Dave has served with honor and humor. He has made countless friends, some of which may call him family. 

Due to the pulmonary fibrosis diagnosis, Dave will need a double lung transplant. He will remain at the University of Minnesota Medical Center until the transplant can be completed. 

With “General’s Army” walking beside him, we are determined to fight this battle head on. We encourage our friends and our family to donate as little or as much as you can. 

BE APART GENERAL’S ARMY! DONATE NOW!!!

(Previous from Dave's Go Fund Me Page)

Click below to help!
Dave's Go Fund Me Page

December PERA update

On December 12th I attended the PERA meeting.

Here's the Agenda of what was discussed. https://www.mnpera.org/meeting-agenda-december-12-2019/

I will link to the minutes when available.

The long and the short is the fund is doing well because of the robust stock market investments.

I am attaching a hand out from Executive Director Doug Anderson.

It shows where every PERA member lives in Minnesota. The reverse breaks down how many PERA members live in each Congressional District.

Why is this important? Because when PERA issues come up you can use this to let your local Representatives know how many of us live in their districts!

For those of you that are retired the Cost of Living increases take effect January 1st.

Correctional Plan retirees will receive a 1.6% COLA.

25 CO's in Baltimore Charged with excessive force

CBS News is reporting that 25 Corrections Officers in the Maryland State Prison system have been charged with excessive force.

All were part of the 'tactical unit.' As most readers of this blog know the tactical unit is called in to put down inmate unrest, perform cell extractions, etc.

I don't know anything more than CBS is providing, but I do know use of force isn't pretty and inmates that require the tactical unit are violent.

These CO's, like all accused are entitled to due process.

Fortunately the prosecutor is Baltimore City Attorney Marilyn Mosby, of the Freddie Gray case fame. Which if you remember all charges were dropped against the officers accused by her.

Being a CO is a tough job. Even performing your duties can lead to being charged.
I hope thses guys have a good legal plan like MNPEA has!

FULL STORY

Rush City MCF on lockdown after attacks on CO's

From CBS:

DOC: Rush City Prison on Lockdown after After Inmate Attacks 3 Staff Members

Click Here for video and full story

Corrections News items

Here are a couple of Corrections related news items:

Two Stabbings Investigated at Oak Park Heights prison

We work a dangerous environment!


As Epstein died, guards allegedly shopped online and slept

I don't know if these CO's did this or not. But this is an example of how important it is to do your job! Do your checks and for God's sake never falsify an entry. Often a falsified entry can get you in more trouble than a missed round.

Hennepin County Haunted jail?

For years it has been rumored that there was a ghost haunting the Hennepin County jail. Myself and many other people who worked there have our own stories.

The Southwest Journal has an article about that, thought I'd share.

For those not familiar with the HennepinCounty Jail,the old jail and Minneapolis City Hall share the same building.

"Steven Maxwell was way up in the vaulted ceilings of the library in City Hall one night in the 1980s, vacuuming up fallen plaster and dust when he felt the hair on his neck stand up.

All by himself, Maxwell felt a cold chill and then came the voice...."

FULL STORY

Detention Deputy Down

From Blue Lives Matter:

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Detention Officer Gene Lee served his department for six years.

Phoenix, AZ – Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Detention Officer Gene Lee died in the line of duty on Wednesday night after having been attacked by an inmate inside the jail the day prior.

Sadly as in the death of many CO's killed on duty, it was a violent one.   

FULL STORY

RIP Gene Lee

2020 PERA Cost of Living Increases

From the PERA website:

2020 Postretirement Increases for PERA Members

October 15, 2019

Monthly benefit payments to retired members of the General Employees Retirement Plan will increase by 1% in January. Police & Fire Plan retiree benefit payments will also increase by 1% while Correctional Plan retirees will receive a 1.6% increase. 

Annual retiree postretirement increases for General and Correctional members are tied to the same Consumer Price Index used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to determine the annual Social Security benefits increase.  The SSA recently announced that the January 2020 Social Security benefits increase will be 1.6%. General retirees receive 50% of the Social Security increase, but not less than 1.0% or greater than 1.5%. The 1.0% minimum will apply in 2020. PERA Correctional retirees receive 100% of the Social Security increase, but not less than 1.0% or greater than 2.5%. Correctional retirees will receive the full Social Security adjustment of 1.6%. The annual increase for PERA Police & Fire retirees will be 1% because their increase is a fixed rate not currently tied to an inflation index.

 PERA moved to tie annual increases to a Consumer Price Index as part of the 2018 legislative package. The goal is to more closely connect increases to actual inflation during both lower and higher inflationary periods. This can help ensure more equitability from one generation to another. Past attempts to tie increases to investment returns, funding status, or use fixed rates have resulted in measurable intergenerational inequities. The use of minimums, maximums, and varying percentages were all a result of what each plan was considered able to afford.

*The original proposal sought to cap the PERA Correctional Retirees at 1.5%. See previous posts, we were able to protect the range for PERA Correctional Retirees between 1-2.5% based on Social Security Benefit increases, which are based on inflation. While not ideal, when inflation is higher the PERA Correctional Retirees will recieve the larger increase.

Hennepin County Detention Deputies to get body cameras

Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson has announced that,

"Hennepin County sheriff's deputies soon will be outfitted with body cameras.."

Patrol, warrants and water patrol will be the first to get them then,

"The rest of the officers will get cameras in the second phase next year, including detention deputies and court security personnel. By the end of 2020, Hutchinson wants to have an additional 302 deputies wearing them." Source: Star Tribune

Body cameras in jail are not without controversy.

Ramsey County Sheriff  Bob Fletcher said in an MPR Article,

"Even the physical layout of the jail has been deemed to be security information," said Fletcher. "Where the doors are, how the doors are opened and accessed, where the inmates are allowed and not allowed — all those pieces of the puzzle become problematic with regards to security."

Jails are not public spaces. The Ramsey County sheriff said videos may also capture other inmates who don't wish to be identified. And he said he doesn't want to see video used to embarrass or shame people who are in custody."

In the same article the ACLU weighs in, "the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU, said jail staff should be required to notify inmates when they activate their cameras."

Currently Washington and Dakota County use body cams in their jails.

I started back in the days when there were no cameras in jail. In the long run it reduced sustainable complaints against staff because the inmates complaints didn't usually match the footage.

I suspect body cams will be the same, but it should make for some interesting litigation when lawyers are seeking footage and others are identifiable in it. Especially when Detention Deputy language is picked up. I remember as a Union Steward. representing members who got caught dropping an F bomb in conversational language picked up on footage obtained by a lawyer. 

Considering much of the jail is already under surveillance this seems redundant and opening a can of worms.

This will be interesting. It will probably require more staff just to go over all of the footage.

I hope their Union adds some good language in their contract.

CO's -highest rates of PTSD, Depression, Suicide...

From Armor Up comes an article about the effects of the job on a CO. It's stats like these that helped us get the PERA Correctional Plan in the late 90's. Bottom line, it's a tough job with very demonstrable health affects.

FULL STORY

PTSD, DEPRESSION, SUICIDE & DIVORCE ARE HIGHEST AMONG CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS

Northern MN Union Workers supporting Pres. Trump

I've been hearing rumblings for a long time about Northern MN Union members supporting President Trump.

This isn't surprising to me. After all it was Republicans who backed the legislation for our PERA Correctional Pension.

In Northern Minnesota it's President Trump and Republicans that are supporting the mining industry. Democrats are blocking that Union industry.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting. “It’s a serious problem for us,” said Alan Netland, president of the North East Area Labor Council in Duluth, Minn., which represents 40,000 union members. “People may say, ‘I voted Republican and the world didn’t fall in, so maybe I better keep doing that.’"

One of a Unions biggest strengths has been the Health Care benefits negotiated into contracts. Today's Democrat wants to end that and replace it with Medicare for All!

In interviews with the Journal, union workers who supported Trump in 2016 said 2020 Democrats have “gone so far left” with positions such as forcing union workers off their current healthcare plans and onto Medicare, as well as their calls to eliminate the coal industry entirely and provide free taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens. (Source: Breitbart News)

There was a time that DFL stood for Democrats, Farmers and Labor. They peeled off the L a long time ago.

Tweets like this are now common:

Detention Deputy Evaristus Ndzentuv on Channel 5

A detention deputy in Hennepin County is about to leave for his fourth deployment overseas. This time, he's going to Africa.

Whether on the job at the Hennepin County Jail or on the ground in the Middle East, Detention Deputy Evaristus Ndzentuv loves the job of keeping his community safe.

"Get to serve the community, keep the community safe, I get to do what I can to protect the community we live in," Ndzentuv said.

Deputy Ndzentuv will spend the next 400 days in Africa.

Source:  KSTP TV -Full Story and video

Thank you for your service!

Your PERA Correctional Pension Handbook

Want to know what to expect from your PERA Correctional Pension? 

Here's the book! 

Sherburne County MN ICE- a well oiled machine

The Star Tribune has a story covering a protest against the Sherburne County (MN) Jail adding more ICE beds. They propose to expand from the existing 300 to 500 beds.

Sherburne County has had the contract for years. Hennepin County was offered the contract years ago when they were building their Public Safety Facility, but turned it down. So Hennepin County tax payers are saddled with the entire Jail budget.

So while Hennepin County spends over $100,000,000 a year on Public Safety, Sherburne County received almost $30,000,000 in five years from the Federal Government to offset their budget.

The Sherburne County jail is clean, and it's Detention Deputies are professional MNPEA Union members.

I've seen complaints in the news about private, for profit jails and now I'm watching complaints about the government doing it in a proper manner. Ice detainees receive food, clothing and medical care. They are legally held until an immigration judge makes a determination.

The article says, " of the 1,500 people detained overall on behalf of ICE for most of last year, three-quarters had previous criminal convictions, including 29 for criminal sexual conduct, 19 for kidnapping, 82 for assault, three for murder and 11 for manslaughter. Roughly half were from Mexico; the rest hailed from 85 different countries."

So half are not from Mexico, blowing a hole in the media narrative.

I support citizen's right to protest. But they should realize when our laws are enforced those arrested will be held somewhere. I prefer a government run center over a private for profit one. I also applaud the Sherburne County board for being fiscally responsible. They are making our Nation and State safer, and saving their taxpayers money. That's what I call good government.

Plans to use our Pension to pay off others Student Loans!

Pension Raiders

How forgiving Student Loans can affect your pension

I’m watching many current presidential candidates and politicians discussing forgiving student loans.

One of the main ways suggested to accomplish this is by “having Wall Street” pay for it.

In reality it’s having our Pension Plans pay for it!

Bernie Sanders plan lays it out like this, “We can guarantee higher education as a right for all and cancel all student debt for an estimated $2.2 trillion. To pay for this, we will impose a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy a decade ago. This Wall Street speculation tax will raise $2.4 trillion over the next ten years.  It works by placing a 0.5 percent tax on stock trades – 50 cents on every $100 of stock –  a 0.1 percent fee on bond trades, and a 0.005 percent fee on derivative trades. 

The problem is Wall Street is US!

Pensions, like PERA and 401k’s invest our money in Stocks on Wall Street. How well those investments perform determines the health of our Pension Funds and our COLA’s (Cost of Living Adjustment).

I’ll use the PERA Correctional Plan as an example. Our plan is based on an actuarial return on investment of 7.5% annually. 

The PERA Correctional plan COLA is dependent on funding status, a large part of that is investments!

“Beginning in 2019, the COLA will be equal to 100 percent of the increase announced by SSA, with a minimum increase of at least 1 percent and a maximum of 2.5. If the Plan’s funding status declines to 85 percent or below for two consecutive years or 80 percent for one year, the cap will be lowered from 2.5 percent to 1.5.” -PERA website 

In other words, if Wall Street is taxed to pay off student loans, Retirees and 401k’s will be the ones paying those loans.

The result would be lower monthly retirement payments and lower cost of living adjustments.

You never thought you’d work all of your life just to have your retirement investments taken to pay off someone else’s student loans did you?

Some politicians think that’s a great idea. 

According to Bernie Sanders, taxing Wall Street will raise $2.4 Trillion over 10 years. That's a $2.4 Trillion hit on our investments! 

The concept of taking our investments to pay off someone else's student loan is wrong.

Watch your wallet.

Dave Metusalem , Conflict of Interest on PERA Board

Dave Metuslam

I just read the June 29, Newsletter for members of PERA today. As a Corrections Retiree Reporter I feel duty bound to point out a conflict of interest.

This caught My eye,  from Thomas Stanley,President of the PERA Board of Trustees: " I also want to welcome David Metusalem back to the board as the Retired, Disabled, and Survivor representative. Dave has prior experience on the PERA board as an elected Police and Fire representative and also served as vice president."

Let me state up front, this appointment is rife with conflict of interest. Dave rose through the ranks at the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. He eventually was the Under Sheriff at Ramsey County, July of 1995 to March 2017. During that time he sat on the PERA Board representing Police and Fire.

He had to step down from the PERA board when he retired as a Peace Officer and became the Executive Director of the MPPOA, May 2017 until December 2018 when he left the MPPOA. All is well and good up until then.

Well now he is the appointed Chief Deputy of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office and the PERA Board Retired, Disabled and Survivor representative and therein lies the conflict.

As Chief Deputy he has the power to hire and fire, but more importantly, as Chief Deputy he has say over which Detention Deputies and Deputies can qualify for Disability under PERA. So the conflict is, will he be looking out for the interest of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office or the PERA member seeking a PERA disability pension?

This is perfectly legal. He is a retiree, and as an appointed Chief Deputy he can legally hold this position. But this loop hole in the law allows a conflict! Imagine you're an injured Ramsey County Detention Deputy or Licensed Deputy and your boss has a vote on the PERA Board whether or not you qualify for a Disability Pension?

The election to fill the Retired, Disabled, and Survivor representative won't open up for more then a year. But at that time I will put my name in to represent us on the PERA Board as the Retired, Disabled, and Survivor representative.

I look forward to your support and will continue to look out for our Pension.

Sherburne County may add more ICE Beds

Detention Deputies/Corrections Officers are on the front lines of Homeland Security!

According to MPR:

Sherburne County is proposing to expand its jail to provide space for up to 500 immigration detainees, an increase from the 300 beds it currently provides for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sherburne County has the second-largest county jail in Minnesota, capable of housing 732 inmates. For decades, the county has contracted with the U.S. government to house immigration detainees and other federal inmates. Its jail once held the 20th conspirator behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Zacarias Moussaoui.

Full Story