Arcadia assisted living facility Arcadia Retirement Village is under investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for alleged COVID-19 health violations including the timeliness in reporting Coronavirus-related deaths and not giving staff new, sanitary supplies.
Arcadia rejected a proposal by the California Equine Retirement Foundation to offer Bingo games at Foothills High School to help finance, feed and house 13 retired racehorses.
Arcadia resident Sylvia Miller (photo) will tell California Retired Teachers Association about her years as a human "computer" at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), as recounted in Nathalia Holt's book The Rise of the Rocket Girls. Miller was one of many women scientists hired to compute data used to chart the path for NASA's early space missions.
Helen Meredith is the founder of Pegasus Ranch in Tehachapi, CA, a place where 60 retired thoroughbreds live. She is struggling financially and estimates that the United Pegasus Foundation is $80,000 in debt. Some of the famous race horses there are Cardmania, winner of the 1993 Breeders' Cup Spring at Santa Anita Park, Music Merci (another Breeders' Cup veteran), Time to Pass, Sand Lizard, and Kingdom Found.
Local city governments in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier are realizing the future costs of pensions and retirement benefits for their employees. The costs will be enormous and city governments need to save money for their future obligations. Arcadia's retiree medical cost is $375,062 this year and its unfunded health liabilities for current employees and retirees is $10.3 million. Unfunded health liability is the amount that would be needed to pay for all health obligations to current employees if they were to retire today, and for all retirees. Other cities' obligations are shown in a chart.
Longtime Arcadia City Clerk Gene Glasco retires. Glasco has served 12 years as its elected City Clerk. In 2022, Arcadia voters approved an update to the City Charter that eliminated the position of the elected City Clerk. With Glasco's retirement, the City Manager will appoint a City Clerk. Most of the traditional City Clerk duties are currently performed by professional staff in the City Manager's Office, ensuring uninterrupted service to the public. Photo of Glasco with Arcadia City Council. See press release dated April 18, 2024 in VF for full-text.
Pension reform is happening with Arcadia city employees. Arcadia City Council approved an ordinance last week whereby police officers and firefighters hired by the city are now required to pay their full employee share, or 9 percent, of their pension costs--an amount previously covered by the city. In addition, tentative agreements are in place with 4 out of 5 employee unions, to have members pay their full share by the next 3 years. Annual increases in employee costs during that period would be offset by equivalent annual raises. Other San Gabriel cities may follow suit.
Public employees' retirement and pensions are costing cities up to 25% of the city budget. In March, CalPERS announced its stock portfolio had lost 39.8%. Costs for retirees are ballooning and El Monte and West Covina budgets have been hit hard from the recession. Arcadia, which had the fourth highest pension costs of the 24 cities surveyed, spent $6.7 million last year for its 357 current employees and retirees. The city's general fund budget is $46 million.