Michael Kemps mailer states “We had four years of spending increases that diminished our reserves”
FACTCHECK REASONING: Expenses have decreased since 2014
2014 City Expenses were $11,111,320.
2015 City Expenses were $12,359,793
2016 City Expenses were $13,184,895
2017 City Expenses were $12,370,898
2018 City Expenses were $7,519,827
https://pvestates.opengov.com/transparency#/24262/accountType=revenuesVersusExpenses&embed=n&breakdown=types¤tYearAmount=cumulative¤tYearPeriod=years&graph=bar&legendSort=desc&proration=true&saved_view=67713&selection=05016FD643E6856B2C3DAD6EDCA121DE&projections=null&projectionType=null&highlighting=null&highlightingVariance=null&year=NaN&selectedDataSetIndex=null&fiscal_start=earliest&fiscal_end=latest
FACT CHECK REASONING: The Reserve (General Fund) has increased.
June 2014 PVE general fund balance was $9,822,486
(source 2014 CAFR)
In June 2018 PVE general fund balance was $10,255,152
(source 2018 CAFR)
Michael Kemps mailer states “Incumbents increased spending, causing increased pension costs”
FACT CHECK REASONING: New staff was hired to fill the vacancies caused by attrition and dismissals. New hires must pay the “employee” portion of their pensions – which was not required of previous employees. This results in the city decreasing pension costs.
Michael Kemps Mailer states ” Pension Costs are growing faster than our revenue.”
Michael Kemps Mailer states “The City uses Debt to fund pensions at 7.35 percent interest”
FACTCHECKS REASONING: There is no evidence the city has borrowed money to fund pensions. The 7.35 percent is the discount rate also known as the assumed rate of return, set by CALPERS and is not the interest the City pays. In actuality a higher discount rate is beneficial to the city.
https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/newsroom/calpers-news/2016/calpers-lower-discount-rate
Michael Kemps Mailer states “Incumbents increased spending by 23% – $4.5 million”
FACTCHECK REASONING: Incumbents took office in 2015. For 2015-2016 City Expenditures were $12,359,793. In 2018 City Expenditures were $7,519,827. This is a 39% decrease – $4.8 million.
Michael Kemps Mailer states “Incumbents depleted our savings by $6.4M to pay for the deficits”
FACTCHECK REASONING: Reserves have actually increased since 2014. Expenditures were made out of special reserves that had been previously earmarked for those projects. $6.4 Million was spent on capital improvements and infrastructure repairs.