Reforming our failed pension system

By Gregory Gandrud

Our county pension fund is ONE BILLION DOLLARS short!!!

Our citizens are facing massive unemployment, have mortgages that exceed property values, and struggle to put food on their family tables. Sheriff's deputies are being eliminated, fire service reduced, teachers laid off, pension fund chronically under-funded, roads full of potholes!

Employees, who will cost the county an average of $118,900 each in the coming fiscal year, will each receive an average of about $38,800 this coming year in benefits. Our Board of Supervisors lacks financial expertise and just voted to spend fifty thousand dollars to study their pension fiasco rather than simply vote to fix it.

As County Treasurer - Tax Collector - Public Administrator, I will use the office to advocate for sound management of our county.

I've spent ten years as an elected official accountable to the taxpayers of Santa Barbara County fighting for more freedom and less government with greater transparency.

As Councilmember for the City of Carpinteria, I served on the Finance Committee, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, the Multi-Jurisdictional Solid Waste Task Group, and the City/County Affordable Housing Task Group where I led fights against fraud and waste.

As an honors graduate of the University of Southern California with an emphasis in multi-national financial management plus nineteen years of public accounting experience - the County's cash box will not be robbed on my watch.

We are headed for even worse trouble in the future if we can't change the dangerous course upon which our county is headed.

True fiscal conservatives such as Senator Tony Strickland, Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee, former Supervisor and Assemblymember Brooks Firestone, former Supervisor Mike Stoker, and Santa Barbara City Councilmember Frank Hotchkiss have all endorsed me and pledged their support for our campaign.

Please be part of our movement for positive change. I'll fight for you and for all of us for sound management of our county, reform of our broken pension system, and a balanced budget that prioritizes public safety.