Retirement for Council = More Tax
Call the retirement benefits whatever you want, but taxpayers will have to pay for it!
If elected, I will NOT vote for the retirement annuity or “deferred compensation plan” for City Council members that is in the CART (Council Agenda Request Tracker).with Johnny Dawkins as the co-requestor!
CART from City Manager’s Presentation on 8/22/2023
I cringed last year when I saw our District 5 representative, Johnny Dawkins, making his appeal for retirement benefits for himself and anyone else that is “elected three times” to City Council.
For some background, the original request was made by DJ Haire and Chris Jones. Council Member Haire requested: “…We would like the City to explore a retirement for its elected officials,”… Please explore the possible retirement conditions: 1. A present sitting Council Member has to have served ten (10) years on the City Council. 2 - Age 60 years old to apply. 3 - Not to receive until off the City Council. 4 - $500.00 per month retirement plan.” Click news article HERE.
As Dawkins began to speak, I just kept shaking my head at the political double speak or what I prefer to call his “hat tricks”. Our representative wanted to reduce the qualifying period from 10 years to being “ELECTED three times”. Does elected three times mean the beginning of your third term? Does he mean 4 years or 6 years? Sounds like 6 years, but it’s really 4 years - a hat trick.
He asked Haire for an amendment. “What I am asking Council Member Haire to consider adding to it is that we ask staff to look at a tax-deferment. For instance, we are talking about $500 per month. So, my suggestion is $500 a month go into a deferred compensation plan… if you were elected three times.” (See video below for full transparency.)
He later says that this is a deferred compensation plan, and “it would not be a retirement plan”. The IRS certainly refers to it as “retirement savings”. (IRC 457b Deferred Compensation Plans | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov))
Why should council members get a retirement benefit that our City’s hard-working part-time and full-time employees are not eligible for?
Currently, I calculate that Mitch Colvin, Johnny Dawkins, DJ Haire and Kathy Jensen would qualify for deferred compensation under Dawkin’s plan. This would cost taxpayers $24,000 per year. Who is paying for that?
I keep thinking about the many former council members who are still living and were “elected at least three times” and never asked for this retirement benefit: Tony Chavonne (4 terms), Bobby Hurst (5 terms), Milo McBryde (11 terms), Wesley Meredith (3 terms), Nat Robertson (6 terms), and Larry Wright (4 terms).
The whole thing is ludicrous!
Does Johnny Dawkins really think the City of Fayetteville can afford to pay the same benefits as the State of North Carolina pays its elected officials? Why even make that comparison? Has he seen our tax bills this year? (Well, maybe not, since he sold his house last year.)
I have concerns about why Dawkins even brought up health insurance. He says the State of North Carolina pays “full pay for the rest of your life” and health insurance to State elected officials after three terms. I sure hope he isn’t planning to ask us to pay for his health insurance in retirement too!
Dawkins says, “To say this (job) is part-time is just not true. Technically, if it is part-time, we couldn’t be on the health insurance plan. But we are allowed to participate on the health insurance plan which is a federal requirement of 30 hours per week.”
There is NO federal requirement of 30 hours per week for an individual that holds public elective office.
City Council members are NOT classified as full-time or part-time employees of the city as confirmed in public records request #22-1447. They are classified as Elected Officials. They do not have to work any number of required hours to qualify for their pay or their health insurance benefits. As far as 30 hours per week… the FMLA clearly states that an employee is “any individual employed by a State, political subdivision of a State,… OTHER THAN such an individual who holds a public elective office of the State, political subdivision, or agency.”
Now this might be an innocent mistake by another council member, but Dawkins is a health benefits specialist for over 30 years. He should certainly know FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) definitions. He should also know the rules for the Council’s (and his) health insurance. Is he trying to mislead us by not telling us he is exempt under FMLA? Is it another hat trick to later ask for health insurance in retirement too?
We, the voters, need to put a stop to this! Serving on City Council is supposed to be about service. This item is still in the CART and it needs to be stopped.
If elected, I promise to work hard to get this item removed from the CART and any future agendas.
I’m respectfully asking for your vote for City Council in District 5,
Lynne
