As many of you probably know, Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters supported former Mayor Mark Funkhouser in his bid for re-election earlier this year.
Within a day or two after Funkhouser finished third in the primary, officials with Local 42 met with Sly James and Mike Burke, who advanced to the general election by finishing first and second respectively in the primary.
In short order, the firefighters endorsed James, who went on to win the general election handily.
With the firefighters, there’s always a price to be paid — usually a big price — for their backing.
In the coming weeks, Kansas Citians will find out just how many pounds of flesh Local 42 president Louie Wright was able to extract from James.
The telling, upcoming issue is pension reform, which will have a massive effect on city finances — one way or the other — for decades to come.
Today, the City Council Finance Committee will consider recommendations from a special Pension System Task Force, which has been meeting for almost a year, trying to devise a plan for moving the city forward on pensions in a fair but responsible way.
Task Force Chairman Herb Kohn, a lawyer with extensive political ties, will discuss the task force’s recommendations with the Finance Committee.
Naturally, Local 42 opposes the key recommended changes because they would reduce the lavish, defined pension system that firefighters — and most other city employees — enjoy.
According to the lead editorial in Monday’s Kansas City Star, task force recommendations include:
:: Increasing the employee contributions rate by a minimum of 1 percent in all four of the city’s pension systems.
:: Eliminating the 3 percent annual cost of living adjustment for many retirees and substituting one that could average 2 percent or less per year.
:: Changing the funding formula so that employees have to work a few more years before they are eligible for full pensions.
The editorial, probably written by Yael Abouhalkah, says the main thing missing is a recommendation to quickly establish a 401(k)-style plan for some workers.
The pension issue essentially will put James and the 12 other council members in the position of choosing between city and citizens’ interests on one hand and union interests on the other.
You can bet that Local 42 has been lobbying the council for weeks and that its officials laid the foundation for this battle early this year, when they decided which candidates to endorse.
You can also bet that the council members, including James, will be squirming in their seats as they try to balance any pledges they made to Local 42 with their fiduciary responsibility to the public.
James — who has had a nice, smooth, seven-month honeymoon — will be the main person on the spot. We will be able to judge by his actions on this issue if he is a mayor for the people or a mayor for the special interests.
My guess is that the task force’s decision not to push quickly for the institution of a 401(k)-style plan at City Hall was the first major concession to Local 42 and the city’s other major union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Local 42 will be looking for more concessions, and they’ll be wielding the hammer of past promises against the anvil of future endorsements:
“Vote with us, like you said you would last year…Vote with us or we’ll defeat you the next time you run.”
In its editorial, The Star laid the challenge at James’ feet.
“James and the council need to resist the pressure to protect the current arrangements. The special committee’s recommendations would go a long way to control the cost of taxpayer-financed pensions.”
Sly James…your honeymoon is about to end. The cards are being dealt; we will be watching to see how you play them.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
What is your prediction Fitz?
I am hoping you follow this story in detail.
I’m not in regular contact with council members or the mayor, needless to say, so I don’t have an inside track on this, Chuck. Just looking at it from arm’s length and knowing how things go at City Hall (I covered it for The Star from 1985 to 1995), I suspect there will be a lot of noodling with the task force’s recommendations. Unfortunately I don’t expect to see any strengthening of the recommendations; it likely will tilt toward dilution in order to placate Louie and company as much as possible.
I believe it will take a fiscal crisis to force the council to dispense the necessary, strong medicine on pensions. This council will probably push the day of reckoning back, ensuring that we will, indeed, have a crisis in a few years. It’s a shitty scenario, but I just don’t see enough spine at 12th and Oak to do the right thing — guard the public interest — at this time.
Sly can have it one of two ways. Local 42 will be against him or the citizens will be. There is no reason that tough action can’t and shouldn’t be taken. A reasonable start would be a sliding-scale reduction in pension benefits based on your time served that transitions into a pure 401K program for new hires.
Public and union employee pensions pose the greatest risk to our economy. We’ve gone well beyond you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your’s to the unions saying, “You blow ME or else”. Let’s call it quid-pro-blow.
If the city gets this wrong and they kowtow to the unions, they can expect further flight out of the city from the types of people, families and businesses that make the city work.
The firefighters laugh their asses off at the rest of us. They depart in their mid-forties or mid-fifties after 20-25-30 years of service with great pensions and benefits. During their working years most have part time jobs or businesses on the side. Some even start second careers after they retire. During their working careers they will spend less than 2% of their on duty time fighting fires. And don’t give me the whole “danger” and “heroes” aspect of the job. You’re at greater risk of getting killed being a convenience store clerk.
My expectation is that the gutless wonders and useful idiots at City Hall will kick the can down the road on this problem.
Mayor Sly lacks the courage of his convictions. He makes The Funk look like Abe Lincoln.
That’s a very good, and worrisome, point about the risk of additional flight from the city, Smartman. For the most part, newer, suburban cities haven’t locked themselves into lavish employee pension plans…A bad school system and a pending pension crisis could prompt a lot of people to look outside their familiar borders. Let’s hope this council rises to the occasion and shows some real guts.
From the last couple of comments I get the impression you folks seem to know A LOT about the city employee’s/firefighter’s pension plans….in order for me to make a more informed decision about who is really getting screwed here, perhaps someone would like to give us some actual details as to these “lavish” pension plans. I have a neighbor who is a recently retired KCMO firefighter and he is far from living high on some fat hog from his retirement….so, do tell, please!
@OldReliable
How many years of service did your neighbor have? What was his rank in the department?