Lets really look at the financials

As I think of the reasons the city is sliding down the financial stability hill, I see the biggest problem in the city and it's only going to get worse.  When comparing fire vs the police pensions, I have to say the fire department is fleecing the taxpayer the most, but not by much. How can a retiree receive a pension that is higher than his base pay?  Funny math, that's how.    I can’t blame them for taking the taxpayers for as much money as possible. I would want a cushioned pension too. If you risk your life for the public, the public should take care of you in retirement.  Sounds noble, right? The City of Allentown has risen to the call to take care of the first responders but after years of financial missteps, poor investment, and underfunding that obligation is quickly approaching becoming unsustainable.  Adding to the poor management of the pension funds are the inflated pensions that have done nothing but increase from year to year, often outpacing normal cost of living standards. We can all recall how Mayor Pawlowski sold (leased) the water authority for 50 years to cover the burdensome pension payment obligation in 2013.   This generated over $200 million, and most of the money was directly sent to pay down the pension liabilities, and it worked to lower the pension obligation percentage of the general fund.  This occurred after Pawlowski took other steps to include reduce the workforce by 20%, limited/eliminated services, and looked to monetize other areas of the city (golf course, parking, etc).   You would think that the city would’ve learned from the mistakes of the past, but it seems we are returning to a point where hard decisions are going to be made to generate revenue to meet the pension liabilities.   And the Tuerk administration is putting the city in the express lane to severe financial strain, if not ruined.   In 2015 the pension obligations were 30% of the city budget – a ridiculous and unsustainable amount. A 2023 PA Auditor general report has the pension obligation currently in the 10–15% range, an increase from the low of 6% post sale of water authority.   What has the Tuerk Administration done?  While Pawlowski made the hard decisions to sell the water authority and take other cost reductions, Tuerk has done none of that.   His administration has been on a spending spree since his term began.  The city has increased the workforce by 15-20% during his term(s) – thus increasing payroll, benefits, pension liabilities, etc., he has increased spending while doing nothing to match revenue – Streetscape projects, new police, fire, and health stations, using ARPA money to create positions, people, and other expenses that were moved to the general fund for taxpayers to cover when ARPA ran out.  All of these mentioned come with increased debt service, maintenance obligations, and higher operating costs.  And now we are issuing bonds to cover those capital plan liabilities.   Recently, the mayor signed an agreement with the police union offering them a DROP Pension. This will cost the city millions if it is approved by city council. Today’s Fire and Police Pension had the following agenda items: POLICE PENSIONS APPROVED BY WRITTEN VOTE Andrew Hackman, $92,924.74/yr FIRE PENSIONS APPROVED BY WRITTEN VOTE Jaime Miranda, $113,274.97 Now don’t misinterpret my position, we need firefighters.  Do we need 6 stations?  No. Do they need a mayor that is afraid to stand up to unions or overly caters to them and their financially burdensome requests?   Absolutely not.   The city still has a major pension problem and will only get worse and unattainable if these high pensions keep being given out. The focus of this blog has been to uncover the poor management of the city and shed light on how incompetently ran the city is right now.   Since I have talked about the Fire and Police pension liabilities, I think it is also prudent to discuss the bloated city workforce numbers as well.   I don’t need to say too much about this because the increased staffing numbers during the Tuerk administration say all that is necessary.   I do want to draw attention to tomorrow’s City Council agenda.  It has the following items:   Bill 34 Amending the 2026 General Fund budget to amend the Fixed Cost Distribution (FCD) for two (2) employees within DCED to change the portions of their salary and benefits expensed to the Grant Fund Recompete Program budget to reflect work performed under the grant. Bill 35 Amending the 2026 General Fund budget to accommodate the upgrade of the part-time Clerk III in the Office of Compliance and the upgrade of the two (2) part-time MWI-Custodial positions in Building Maintenance within the Department of Public Works. The part-time Clerk III, currently M08, would be upgraded to an Administrative Assistant at a proposed pay grade of S07 to better align the job duties and responsibilities of this position. The two (2) part-time MWI-Custodial positions will remain in the same paygrade (M06) but be upgraded to full-time positions to better align job duties and allow for consistent staffing in Building Maintenance, What is really going on here?   Well, the city administration is pulling another fast one on new positions and upgrades.  Instead of committing to the requirements of the City Code that state a committee prior to budget will be formed for all position changes and upgrades, the city leaders play a shell game where they leave out upgrades and piece meal them throughout the year so that there is less scrutiny.   “A Reclassification Committee will be established as a part of this section, consisting of Finance Director; Chair; President of Council or designee; the Mayor or his designated; the City Clerk as Secretary to the Board. The Committee will hear all cases for reclassifications and forward the recommendation to City Council for adoption by ordinance. Reclassifications relate to position changes only, not particular personnel or hiring. The HR Director shall facilitate the process and develop procedures working with Council that will be adopted later.” Council has been asking for this to be enacted for years but then a squirrel runs past them and they forget until the next year when they cry for this committee – squirrel - wash, rinse, repeat…. Bill 34 moves some of the cost to a grant, but eventually the grant will run out, and the city general fund will cover the entirety of salary and benefits. Bill 35 is an excellent example of the games the administration plays with positions.  They bring in part-time staff and then suddenly need to move to full-time work and increase the salary.   “Duties to better align with the position”?  What a weak justification.  What happened to “All other duties as assigned”?  Seems to me they could remain part-time and the “all other duties” clause should be enacted.   The administration needs to get spending under control and devise policies and procedures that put an end to this wild, wild, west form of governing.   The city budget didn’t explode overnight. This has happened due to year after year financial denial and the spend tomorrow’s money today philosophy of the Tuerk administration.  Allentown didn’t lease its water system because it wanted to. It did it because the math left the leaders with no other choice.  What is next for Allentown when they can’t meet the liabilities of the pension for fire and police?   Sell the Golf Course?  Property?  Rent space in the new Police and Fire Stations?  Get rid of staff? None will generate significant income to deal with the out-of-control spending.   And when Allentown starts selling off its infrastructure to pay yesterday’s bills, that’s not fiscal strategy. That’s a warning siren. So while we are paying more for good and services in our daily lives, just know that the Tuerk administration is spending our money like there is a mint in the basement of City Hall.   We are rewarding loyalists to Tuerk with high paying jobs and no expectations to produce, handing out fat pensions, paying overtime for people to do their jobs, hiring contractors to do jobs we pay city employees to perform, and sending the mayor on lavish trips to "conferences" that are allegedly bringing millions of dollars into the city.  Remember all of this when the budget drops this year, and the administration insists a tax hike is unavoidable, even as Verizon Frank Kane keeps insisting the mayor has brought in more money than ever.