Why I'm running for La Palma City Council

By Robert Carruth

Position Paper

There are seven candidates running for La Palma City Council this election. Each offers their service to our community and each has unique qualifications and reasons why they want to represent you. I entered the race because I believe La Palma is at a financial tipping point.

What we do over the next few years will impact our city for decades to come. With my finance and management experience I am prepared for the task at hand and I am ready to confront the challenges we face. Money we spend on non-essentials today will not be there for necessities tomorrow.

One decision can change the course of a city, for better or worse. In 2004, the City Council enhanced pension formulas for employees. Between 2000 and 2003, City paid pension contributions totaled $250,800. After the Council's decision, pension contribution costs skyrocketed, totaling $10.4 million between 2004 and 2011. Employees contributed zero. The increased expenditure provided no direct value to the community. To make matters worse, it wasn't enough; today La Palma has an $11.9 million unfunded pension liability. Furthermore, as of July 1, 2008, the City had a $3.5 million liability for retiree medical benefits which is growing approximately $185,000 per year. There are 25 retirees currently receiving benefits and 65 eligible active employees.

The decision to increase pension formulas and grant management salary increases that substantially exceeded inflation make the difficult situation we face with the loss of our redevelopment agency and the sales tax revenue due to BP/ARCO's relocation even harder to overcome.

If you want a council member who will listen to concerned citizens; who respects individual differences and assumes every person has positive intentions until proven otherwise; who asks hard questions and verifies facts, please vote for Robert Carruth on November 6.

If you want a council member who is a good steward of city finances and who considers city expenditures with the same care and concern he has for his own checkbook, then please vote for Robert Carruth on November 6.

If you want a council member who will not make a promise he can't keep; who will humbly admit when he is wrong and who owns the unintended consequences of policies he helped develop and approve, then please vote for Robert Carruth on November 6.

The only interests of those who serve on our City Council should be the best interests of La Palmans. That is why I have not and will not accept donations from any person, business or union. I've chosen to use solely personal funds for my campaign in order to remain an independent voice for our community.

I am passionate about fiscal responsibility. That is why I led a successful grass roots effort for pension reform in La Palma which resulted in employees contributing a fair share to their pension and a return to sustainable benefit formulas for new employees.

I'm not a politician. I am an average citizen of La Palma who genuinely cares about our future because I plan to spend the rest of my life here. I don't have all the answers but I have ideas, the courage to challenge the status quo, and the aptitude to analyze and lead.

To help keep La Palma a great family friendly city and one of the best places to live in America, if elected I will:

• Maintain a balanced budget and evaluate all city expenditures based on their value to the community

• Create a responsible savings plan for future maintenance and improvements and a funding plan for our unfunded pension liability

• Oppose high density residential development in the General Plan

• Support community programs that define our character and the volunteers who make them happen

• Offer reasonable compensation packages that are sustainable and fair for both employees and taxpayers