Napa Valley Taxpayers Alliance

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Napa Valley Taxpayers Alliance?

The NVTA is a non partisan group of Napa citizens devoted to monitoring the Napa government, both County and Cities, to represent the interests of taxpayers. This is something that has been sorely lacking in Napa. NVTA was founded based on the observation that our Government is most responsive to special interest groups who usually get what they want from government, and that the taxpayers in Napa had no representation at the table.

Why do we even need a taxpayers group?

Government spending in Napa and in the State of California is heading toward a wall, if it isn't there already. One of the key drivers of our continually weaker budgets is the high cost of employee pensions that have been negotiated by the government employee unions. Right now the County spends 80+ percent of its money on salaries, and of that over 30% is going to pensions. Napa City is in a similar position.

That amount is about to increase upwards dramatically, and there is no money to pay for it at current tax levels. Already the county and city have bare bones infrastructure funding, as anyone who drives on the roads here knows. This situation is only going to get worse, and someone needs to step forward and represent the interests of the overall community, and a taxpayers group seems to be the best vehicle in which to do that.

Another concern is the fact that in both Napa County and in the state, people dependent on a paycheck from the government is now about 40% of the population. That is simply unsustainable without huge increases in taxes, or increased debt which will lead to either huge increases in taxes or economic depression.

On top of everything else, key boards in the community like the Board of Education and the various regulatory boards that are supposed to oversee their areas of government responsibility in an independent manner are populated by former union members and/or those previously working in the very area they are supposed to oversee. This creates a situation where the wolf is gaurding the henhouse, and the only truly independent officials are the Supervisors and the City Council. Those two top bodies of government then are surrounded by only special interest groups demanding that government go to serve their needs. It goes without saying that those needs are not always synonymous with the general welfare of the citizens of Napa.

Another need that we wish to address are basic economic education issues, including tax policy, of which the voting public seems to have very little understanding. One reads frequent letters in the Register blaming rich people for being greedy as the cause of low government funding for social programs, or blaming banks and realtors for high housing prices. It is clear that most people have no clue why some of the most basic economic issues they are dealing with exist. In order to make informed policy decisions and vote responsibly we need better and more accurate information and the NVTA will be working to fill that need.

What are the key issues NVTA is currently addressing?

The first issue is openness in government. We need to know what our government is spending money on currently in order to assess what voters should be concerned about. This has proven to be very difficult information to get, so an ongoing effort to obtain this information will be a top priority.

The second issue is government employee pensions, discussed here.

The third issue is farmworker housing, and our main concern there is the apparent lack of financial controls on the part of the City of Napa. That will be further discussed in coming weeks.

The fourth issue is to find out what your concerns are? What issues do you think that the NVTA should address. Feel free to leave a comment here or email michael@napablogger.com

Employee Pensions

Due to lucrative government employee union contracts, pensions for government employees have reached a crisis in the State of California, and are soon to do so in Napa. Currently our local governments have little money to maintain current services, much less add any news ones such as Parks or needed road upgrades, much less quality road maintenance.

Napa County has some of the highest per capita tax collections in the United States, is listed as the highest property tax collections per capita in the state of California, and through high tax rates collects tens of millions in revenue from the tourists which are coming through in very high numbers. So where is all the money going?

80% of the County budget is spent on compensation for employees, and about a third of that is going to pensions. That amount will be increasing dramatically over the next few years. On top of that, right now Napa County has $50 million in unfunded liabilities.

The Center for Government Analysis recently completed a study of pension liabilities on the local level throughout California, as well as the state. Some of the alarming information gathered from that include the fact that right now state income tax collections total $37 billion, and last year $20 billion of that was paid out in current pension payments, for people who have already retired. That does not include payments to pension funds.

In the state as a whole, in the year 2000-01 all governments in California combined paid $3.4 billion into employee pension funds. Just four short years later in 2004-05 that figure was $19.5 billion, nearly six times the amount. Part of the reason for that was the huge increases given to the unions during the stock market bubble, but the rates owed to employee pensions have stayed the same, and in fact by law cannot be lowered. So we are stuck with this for current employees. 

What is happening is that the unions have managed to negotiate earlier and earlier retirements at higher and higher rates of pay. (See this.) Most police and sheriff’s can now retire in their 50's with 90% of their highest salaries or more, in some instances with more than 100%. Witness in 2005 after a lucrative new contract was signed that nine police officers retired in Napa at once, all younger than 60. That is nine employees who won’t be working yet drawing retirement salaries and benefits for many years to come, and they will have to be replaced by nine who will work. Napa cannot sustain that kind of cost for employees, at least not without huge tax increases.

Another phenomenon that is happening is that County or City employees retire, then come back to work in another local government job or as a consultant, essentially getting their retirement salary and another salary from the same pool of taxpayers. It used to be that retirement meant you stopped working, now it can mean you simply take a second job and get paid for both.

It is very difficult to get any specific information from the City or County about salaries and compensation, but that is one thing we will be working to do at the NVTA as a starting point. Unless we as taxpayers know exactly what we are paying our employees, it is difficult to assess what needs to be done to make sure we aren’t spending our way into deficits or worse.

We propose the following steps to ensure that employee pensions are fair and maintain financial feasibility:

1. Open up the books and make public where the current pension system stands, what are current and future unfunded liabilities, and what are we actually paying out to who? By the latter what is meant is not names of people, but job categories, years of service, etc.

2. Pass a San Francisco style ordinance requiring any further pension increases to go before the voters. (This article contains a good explanation of the San Francisco plan.)

3. Move toward a defined contribution plan rather than the defined benefit plan that we have now for all new hires. What that means in plain english is that a defined benefit plan is a plan that promises a set amount of money when you retire. A defined contribution means that you are promised a set amount of money each year to be put into a retirement account for you.

A 401(k) is an example of a defined contribution plan. The reason that this type of plan is more financially feasible is that the government would only be on the hook to maintain each years contribution, and would know year to year what its obligations are. When you promise people a set amount of money twenty years from now, which is what a defined benefit plan is, you could end up with any amount and it is impossible to plan for it.

Also, the method of funding for defined benefit plans are the stock market, hoping it will perform well enough that the money will be there when the need comes. To no one’s surprise, the stock market has not met projections across the state, resulting in billions of dollars of unfunded liabilities to California voters. That means that despite voters continually being promised that they will not have to raise taxes to pay for this, they will.

This is a complex area that will require study. Look elsewhere on the site for links to pension information, and we will also be adding further information as we go along.

Also note that Health Care is exploding in cost as well. Much of the problem comes from beyond the county or city. However, there are undoubtedly things that can be done to save money on health care, and perhaps that will be an issue the NVTA can address down the road.

Government Secrecy in Napa

Government Secrecy

In order for the NVTA to evaluate Napa government spending, we have to know what the tax collections are, and what they are being spent on. The government is very reluctant if at all to depart with that information, in probable violation of state ethics laws.

I (Michael Haley) began to research what some typical employees were making including salaries and pensions about a year ago with the county. I called the County executives office and began making inquiries. The attempt was to find out the actual annual salaries that were paid to particular individuals (not by name), and what their pension pay outs would be upon retirement.

After being transferred around to a number of different individuals, it finally ended up with three different financial analysts who all said the same thing, that the information may be confidential due to union rules, and they would ask their higher ups and get back to me. They never did, and I decided to drop it because I could tell that I was stirring up a hornet’s nest and wasn’t really prepared to go it on my own at that point.

It is already illegal in the State of California to withhold that information, according to the ethics training that all government employees receive. Not only are governments supposed to provide whatever information a tax payer wants, they are supposed to actively assist them in finding that information, including helping them figure out what information they want if they are not sure.

This surely is not happening in Napa.

A government watchdog group called CalAware did a survey to see how well various government agencies were responding to the laws regarding openness in government. They sent an experienced reporter well versed in the law to test the Napa Sheriff’s department and the Napa City police department. Requested information included officer’s salary schedules, the salary and assets of the top personnel, crime information, and copies of department policy regarding public disclosures of information, among other things.

The Napa County Sheriff received an F-, the worse grade possible. Napa City received a D-. The reporter got the run around, even being told that the County Supervisors would have to vote on whether he could have some of this information, among other excuses. His name and address were given to Silvia Darbanian, an attorney in the County Counsel’s office, at her request in an apparent direct violation of the law.

ALL of the information that this reporter requested is required to be given to any member of the public who asks for it ANONYMOUSLY. All of the county employees have been trained in this, so they either know better or should know better. What happened to both him and myself when we requested this information is considered to be a violation of ethics under state law.

It is going to take a serious and concerted effort to get this information from the County and City, and is a key first step in accomplishing our goals of better Napa government. They have already demonstrated that they do not care about the law, or have some legalistic way around it that I haven't heard yet, but in any case voters have a right to know what they are paying for. We need to demand that information, for without it we cannot raise responsible concerns about how our money is spent.

About the NVTA

The Napa Valley Tax Payers Alliance was started by a group of Napa citizen activists who are concerned about spending and tax policy in both the County and City. Although we have been considering and researching the idea for about two years now, we are just beginning formally and are currently chaired by Michael Haley.

This group was started because it was noted that government in Napa tends to get dictated by whoever is in front of the City Council or Supervisors. That consists of entirely those from special interest groups of one sort or another, whether that be wine industry or farm groups, environmentalists, school advocates, or employee unions. There is currently no group representing the general interests of the taxpayer in Napa County and there is a great need for that.

This site will give you information regarding what we feel are the key issues we as taxpayers in Napa must deal with, as well as links and other information regarding Napa policy issues.

We now have over 50 people on our email list, and another 600 that receive it as members of other groups. If you would like to join the list and be updated on our activities, please send a request to michael@napablogger.com

This site will also have a blog area in the middle of the opening page, in which frequent updates will be made, so check back often to find out what is going on. If you have an article or information of interest that you think would be relevant to the site please email it on to Michael Haley at the above email address. Please remember that all information should pertain to local tax and government spending issues.