A recent editorial asked the City to examine employee pensions. We are pleased to report that this effort is underway. This summer, employee bargaining groups began meetings with the City to discuss pension reform. The effort started last year as part of extensions of employee contracts, when 8 of 10 City bargaining groups agreed to discuss pension reform while also voluntarily agreeing to reduce their compensation. Because of the extraordinary spirit of cooperation from employees, the City was able to close our budget deficit this year, and to balance the 2011-12 budget without using emergency reserves. Nine out of 10 bargaining groups are participating in the pension reform discussions that are underway.
As a last point, contrary to what the recent editorial stated, Mayor Matthews is not a union member.