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‘Strong Cities’Continued from Page 1… <br />ͬ®±ng Cities, ͬ®±²¹ ͬ¿¬»ô ­»¬ ¬± ´¿«²½¸ Ó±²¼¿§ô ß«¹. 8, is designed to articulate the <br />·³°±®¬¿²½» ±º ´±½¿´ ¹±ª»®²³»²¬ ·² Ý¿´·º±®²·¿ ®»­·¼»²¬­ »ª»®§¼¿§ ´·ª»­ô ¿²¼ ¬¸» °»±°´» ¿¬ ©±®µ <br />delivering critical services. <br />With the "Strong Cities, Strong State" website as the centerpiece, the program will broadly <br />promote city success stories alongside profiles of the elected officials and city managers working <br />together to build and maintain a high quality of life for California city residents. <br />Your City’s Chance to Shine <br />The Strong Cities program provides a one-of-a-kind platform for showcasin ¹ §±«® ½·¬§­ ­«½½»­­ <br />stories. Pairing these achievements with testimonials from community leaders and leveraging the <br />power of social media, which was so powerful for Proposition îîô ͬ®±²¹ Ý·¬·»­,ͬ®±²¹ ͬ¿¬» <br />allows cities to highlight their accomplishments while emphasizing specific city services and <br />community characteristics. <br />Moreover, the Strong Cities program will promote the innovation and experience of local officials <br />in delivering vital services at a time when this expertise is vitally needed by state leaders <br />struggling with fundamental issues of governance. The success of Prop. 22 is the most recent <br />demonstration that Californians hold their local communities and cities in high regard along with <br />the services they provide. ͬ®±²¹ Ý·¬·»­,ͬ®±²¹ ͬ¿¬» ©·´´ ¸»´° °±­·¬·±² ½·¬·»­ ¿­ ª·¬¿´ô ²»½»­­¿®§ <br />and equal partners in building a better California. <br />League regional public affairs managers will be contacting individual cities to assist in building <br />these profiles. The Strong Cities program will begin in August with the roll out of a new city profile <br />each day, and the goal of highlighting all California cities over the coming year. <br />If your city has an interest in accelerating its profile, please contact your regional public affairs <br />manager. L·µ» ¬¸» ͬ®±²¹ Ý·¬·»­ô ͬ®±²¹ ͬ¿¬» Facebook page <br />(https://www.facebook.com/strongcitiesstrongstate) to receive current updates on the program. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________ <br />‘Pensions’Continued from Page 1… <br />The City Managers department has been actively engaged in public pension reform discussions <br />for a number of years, both prior to and following the onset of this lingering recession that started <br />in 2008. The stock market and investment losses that occurred in 2008, 2009 and 2010 have <br />driven up public employer costs for pension systems to the point of threatening the very <br />sustainability of these pension benefits and imposing a concern about the severe impact of <br />pension costs on the delivery of all public services at the state and local level. <br />The policy starts by recognizing the prominent role that pension benefits play in recruiting and <br />retaining high-performing, career public employees, but offers a three step approach to correcting <br />the escalating costs of providing this benefit. Those steps include recommendations for actions at <br />the local government collective bargaining table, actions that can be taken at the statewide level, <br />and some additional considerations and options for restoring pension sustainability. <br />Highlights among the recommendations include: <br /> Requiring that employees pay more or pay their entire designated employee costs for <br />public pension systems; <br /> Providing new, lower tier retirement benefits for newly hired employees; <br /> Basing final retirement salary on the three highest paid years of employment and <br />eliminate the option to be paid on the highest paid single year of employment; <br />Ю±ª·¼·²¹ »³°´±§»®­ ©·¬¸ ¬¸» ±°¬·±² ¬± ¿¼±°¬ ¿ ¸§¾®·¼ ®»¬·®»³»²¬ °´¿² ¬¸¿¬ ½¿°­ ¬¸» <br />¼»º·²»¼ ¾»²»º·¬ °±®¬·±² ±º ¬¸» °»²­·±² ¿¬ éð °»®½»²¬ ±º ¬¸» ®»¬·®·²¹ »³°´±§»»­ ¾¿­» °¿§å <br />2 <br />