Channeling J. Wellington

I hope I'm not the only one, growing up, who used to watch Popeye cartoons (the old black and white cartoons produced by Max Fleischer) with every single frame of animation hand-drawn, not computer-generated. Many's the can of spinach consumed in a childhood belief that superpowers and feats of derring-do would result.  

I loved J. Wellington Wimpy, always offering his hopeless and impossible to accept financial arrangement to 'gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.' If you don't ask the answer's automatically no, right? Life sometimes imitates art, as this Tuesday, Election Day, here in Norwich we may hear echoes of Wimpy's voice as mark our ballots. 

In addition to candidates for City Council and Board of Education, we'll also be voting for a city treasurer and on a Pension Obligation Bond (POB) of 145 million dollars to be repaid over 25 years, which as Wimpy might say, is a whole lotta hamburgers. 

For some perspective on that 145 million bond, over thirteen and a half million dollars of the city's recently-passed current budget goes to fund city pensions. It's a must-pay expense; the concern is always how while paying for everything else we as a city want, need and require. 

As homeowners, my wife and I refinanced our mortgage last year and saved ourselves money, in both the long and short-term, so that's why I find the POB appealing as the projected savings after 25 years could be about forty-three million dollars, which is serious money, more ground beef than ground chuck. 

The POB refinances the unfunded pension liabilities of those in the City’s pension fund, to include all Norwich Public Utilities (NPU) employees and General City employees and many of the Norwich Public Schools (NPS) employees (not including NPS Teachers and Administrators who are in the State’s Teachers’ Retirement System). 

Having lived here for thirty years, my family, and yours, too, I know, have benefitted from the services of talented city workers from public safety, through public schools, and everything in between. Their pensions are part of the compensation agreement we and they made when they came to work for us. 

And having consistently excellent professional city services is an integral part of our community's quality of life. Voting in favor of the POB protects our city employees, helps Norwich continue to recruit and retain the talented employees we'll need for what's next, and helps create a more stable mill rate which each of us as a taxpayer wants and desires 

The passage of the POB doesn't really impact the City's Standard & Poor's 'AA' bond rating since we'd be replacing one liability for another. Other towns in Connecticut have most recently issued POBs with no negative impact on their ratings. 

In many respects, voting 'yes' for the POB means getting comfortable with the $145 million price tag. But let's not kid ourselves, the pension liabilities for our employees must be paid; that's where the road and the sky collide. 

Right now, as it's going, it's so far and so good; but a 'yes' vote Tuesday for the POB has the potential to save every taxpayer money through historically low-interest rates and provide the dollars we'll need to fund further and future growth. Think about voting 'yes' Tuesday for the POB, and that next burger may taste even better.
-bill kenny