Guest Commentary: Effects of Excessive Increases in City of Davis Employee Compensation from 2011 to 2020 on the City’s Ongoing Budget Crisis
by Alan Pryor This author previously published an analysis of annual compensation and raises given to City…
Commentary: Defending Double Dipping?
The problem of double dipping into the pension system is a huge problem that the legislature and…
Commentary: Finally a Fully Transparent Budget
In 2008 during the Davis City Council elections, incumbent Councilmembers Don Saylor and Stephen Souza ran on…
No Rosy Budget Projections in the Current Model
After several years of rosy budget projections, the city, utilizing more robust modeling forecast projections, comes forward…
Sunday Commentary: Davis Needs to Wake Up If It Wants This Place to Remain Great
A growing view for solving Davis’ financial problems is to kick the can down the road and…
Containing Employee Compensation Costs
Submitted Anonymously through YoloLeaks Recently several articles have been published in the Vanguard discussing the increasing costs…
Mayor Calls City’s Unfunded Liabilities Situation – Urgent
Mayor Robb Davis has reacted to an updated analysis by a city-contracted actuarial as “urgent.” Despite cost-containment…
Guest Commentary: Time to Replace Pensions with 401ks
By Jeff Boone Another name for a pension is a “Defined Benefit” (DB) retirement plan. DB plans provide a…
Sunday Commentary: Can We Forge Community Consensus to Solve Our Revenue Crisis?
We live in a beautiful community that we cannot afford to pay for with existing revenues. We…
City Manager Restructures City Hall and Presents New Budget
The following is the City Manager Dirk Brazil’s transmittal letter on the new budget which lays out…
Sunday Commentary: Avoiding Repeating the Mistakes of Davis Budget History
I look at articles like Dan Carson’s (5/2, New City Staff Forecast Says Fiscal Year to End…
CalPERS Contributions to Put More Squeeze on Local Funding For Roads
CalPERS contribution rates will rise more than nine percent, a move that experts project will cost state…
My View: City Not Out of Woods Yet on Pension Risk
Back in late October and early November, State Controller John Chiang dropped a bit of a bombshell…
Commentary: Judges Ruling Serves as a Warning, an Opportunity for a City at Crossroads on Future
The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board this morning argues that Federal Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein’s “potentially groundbreaking ruling…
Landmark Decision Out of Stockton Could Change Playing Field on Pensions
It will likely take some time to figure out the ramifications for cities like Davis, who are…
Analysis: Future of Pensions May Hinge on Stockton Decision
Dan Walters had an interesting column yesterday, writing that “Judge Christopher Klein has strongly hinted that he’s…
Vanguard Analysis: City Modifies Retiree Medical Vesting Plan
When the city approved the 2009-2010 MOUs, all of them included a revision to the Retiree Health…
CalPERS Rate Hike Will Hit Cities Like Davis Again
Those counting on the improving economy and increased investment returns to cushion projected cost increases had better…
City to Look for External Candidate For City Manager
On Friday evening at 5 pm, the Davis City Council for the first time formally met to…
