Sunday’s Letters to the Editor

Unfunded liabilities

EDITOR: Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers continue to tout a budget surplus. Newsom’s latest claim is a $45 billion surplus. These surpluses conveniently ignore unfunded liabilities for pensions and retiree health benefits, which are a massive problem for state and local government.

While official estimates total about $300 billion, independent estimates put the pension obligation close to $880 billion. The chasm between the estimates is based on the discount rate used. California uses 6.8% (the expected return on pension investments) while Moody’s recommends using the long-term high-grade bond rate (currently about 3.1%). Unfortunately, there is great latitude in the choice of the discount rate and California’s choice is optimistic by any standard. Even after 10 years of bull market returns (before the recent correction), the pension system was only 70% funded.

In addition, the latest California Policy Center analysis shows that state and local government debt stands at nearly $1.6 trillion, or about half the state’s GDP, not including close to $70 billion in deferred infrastructure maintenance. That’s $40,000 of debt per capita.

The numbers aren’t easy to parse, but you can trust that there is a lot of bad news under the surface that officials would rather taxpayers not focus on.

NANCY HAIR

Sebastopol

Setting teachers’ salaries

EDITOR: I taught at Rancho Cotate High School from 1971 to 1986. I represented the school on the team that negotiated the first contract between the California Teachers Association and the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District. It is with sadness that I witness certificated employees going on strike in an effort to bring teacher salaries up to median statewide teacher salaries.

I served on the Santa Rosa Board of Education from 1980 to 1984, and during my first year Santa Rosa teachers went on strike, which lasted for several weeks. As I said, it is with sadness that I witness the disruption of students’ education while teachers are on strike.

We should consider a statewide teacher salary schedule and remove disruptive local salary negotiations from California’s 1,037 school districts. Education is a state responsibility, and school funding is no longer based solely on local property taxes.

School administrators should be on the same schedule with appropriate adjustments. Teachers and administrators are on the same team.

JIM PEDGRIFT

Santa Rosa

Noise enforcement

EDITOR: I will be interested to follow the progress of France’s experiment with “sound radars” that track and photograph decibel levels and speed from cars deliberately altered to produce excessive noise (“France points sensors at vehicle noise,” Feb. 22). If successful, France’s seven largest cities would become quieter, safer, more breathable (due to reduced exhaust from tricked-out engines), and richer (with hefty fines imposed on offenders). Just imagine the improved quality of life and increased income that would benefit Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Rohnert Park, Healdsburg, Windsor, Petaluma and Cotati if we could implement a similar program in Sonoma County.

JANET BAROCCO

Santa Rosa

Soviet Union 2.0

EDITOR: I expect Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that sanctions are “akin to a declaration of war” will be his pretext to declare martial law (“Russian forces target civilians,” March 6). The rubber-stamp Russian legislature will subsequently pass laws giving him absolute power, outlawing any unauthorized gatherings, prohibiting any speech that doesn’t echo official sources, permitting the arrest and jailing of anyone without trial, seizure of any assets and a reopening of the gulag (if, indeed, it every really closed).

Putin will achieve his dream of recreating the Soviet Union, at least for a while, in Russia. It will include a reversion to

Soviet-era living standards, except, of course, for the elite and their toadies.

The Soviet Union lasted about 69 years before it collapsed under the weight of its own corruption, mindless brutality and utterly incompetent stupidity. It will remain to be seen how long Soviet Union 2.0 lasts.

JAY STONE

Healdsburg

Abusive in Texas

EDITOR: One of the definitions of abuse is maltreatment. Synonyms for maltreatment include brutalize, bully, ill-treat, kick around, mishandle, mistreat. Regarding the recent action by Gov. Greg Abbott against transgender youth and their families in Texas, it seems he fits the definition of one guilty of abuse rather than the loving families, doctors, scientists and teachers who are supporting them (“Texas governor targets care for trans adolescents as abuse,” Feb. 24). He claims to be a Christian. If so, during this Lenten season he might reflect on the basic foundation of Christ’s teaching: love one another.

CAROL CHAVEZ

Petaluma

Inhumane conditions

EDITOR: I never thought I could affiliate or side with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but the photo in the March 4 business section showing large pigs in Iowa literally stuffed inside pens with no room to turn around, much less move sideways, was sad and shocking (“Debating safety of pork”). When one sees that photo, the storyline and content become miniscule. I thought the size of pens had been changed for all animals, not just chickens.

AUDREY J. CHAPMAN

Sonoma

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.