recentnews

Recent Atlanta pension and insurance news articles:

Report: Atlanta must cut pensions August 16, 2009
A new Atlanta City Council report recommends that the city slash the retirement benefits it pays for future employees
and look into having the city join, for the first time since anyone can remember, Social Security.
Full article available at:

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/report-116881.html

Atlanta has 70 Million budget deficit January 31, 2008. See Atlanta Journal Constitution link below:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/01/30/atlbudget_0131.html
and
CFO gives Atlanta accounting an "F". See link below:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/01/31/atlbudget0201.html

City workers accused of insurance fraud
By DAVID PENDERED, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/24/07

Two employees of the city of Atlanta have been fired after an internal
investigation determined they defrauded the city of $39,000 by filing an
insurance policy on the cancer-stricken daughter of one of the women,
according to a copy of the report made public Monday.

The investigation found that Tamieka Edwards, 25, who died of leukemia on
Aug. 30, 2005, was not legally enrolled in the city's life insurance and
accidental death programs. But the city paid $39,000 to Edwards' mother,
Denise Lattimore, according to the report obtained by The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution through a request filed under the open records law.

Edwards left a husband and 3-year-old son, the report states. A witness
whose name was removed from the report said she was bothered that Edwards'
husband and son didn't collect any money. The same witness said she does not
know if Lattimore split the money with her alleged accomplice.

Lattimore allegedly persuaded fellow city worker Shirley Miller, who worked
in the city's pension division, to enroll Lattimore's daughter in the
insurance program just two weeks before her death. As a city employee, the
daughter had been eligible for city benefits since Sept. 30, 2003, when she
was promoted to a full-time secretarial job at the city's solicitor's
office. But she never signed up for benefits, the report states.

The day after Edwards died, Miller added Lattimore's name to the policy,
making her the sole beneficiary of Edwards' benefits, the report states.

Lattimore, Miller and Edwards' husband could not be reached for comment
Monday.

The city's insurance carrier, Standard Insurance Co., determined Edwards was
ineligible and refused to pay the policy in December 2005, the report
states. The city cut a check for $39,000 on June 22, 2006, on the premise
that the city's employee benefits division had mishandled Edwards'
application for life insurance benefits, the report states.

The investigation started in August after a former employee of the pension
division, whom Miller had fired two days earlier, met with the city's chief
financial officer, Janice Davis, and told Davis of the alleged incident.
Miller and Lattimore were fired April 6.

Atlanta sent the report to the Fulton County district attorney's office for
possible criminal charges and to try to recover the $39,000. The report
states that investigators agreed there is sufficient evidence to pursue
charges against Miller and Lattimore.

"Pension fund lawyers win fees and hope city ends war"
Daily Report, January 16, 2007 by Greg Land (See Fulton Daily Report)

Atlanta mayor: $250 million needed to fund pension plan
By DAVID PENDERED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (see AJC.com)
Published on: 01/02/07 http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/01/02/0102shirley.html

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said today the city needs to come up with an additional $250 million a year to meet the
growing demand for services and requirements to fully fund pension benefits for retirees who are living longer than their
predecessors.

Franklin made her remarks during her state of the city address to the Atlanta City Council.
Franklin said she has not identified a source of funds. She asked the council to work with her administration to find the
money, possibly from a combination of reducing the city's expenses and from new state and federal government sources.

Atlanta's operating budget is about $500 million a year. The total budget, including Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport, is about $4 billion a year, she said.
Franklin also said Atlanta should plan diligently for the next 30 years.
Franklin said Atlanta's previous decisions to invest in city services are working. She said crime has fallen as more police
officers are hired, and the water and sewer system is meeting demands in the midst of a renewal program that's to cost
nearly $4 billion.

City prioritizes $250 million in extra spending
Tops are better services, more retiree savings

By DAVID PENDERED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (See AJC.com)
Published on: 01/04/07

Jaws dropped after Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said Tuesday the city should expect to spend at least
$250 million a year more than it does now to provide better city services and health care for retired city workers.
"That's the first time I heard it," Councilwoman Felicia Moore, who serves on the council's Finance Committee, said
Wednesday. "There's not been anything presented to the committee."
second and final term. Franklin is urging Atlanta to create the kind of premier parks, customer service, high ethical
standards and clean and safe environment that she says will attract and retain smart residents.
standards and clean and safe environment that she says will attract and retain smart residents.

On Wednesday, Franklin's administration put some meat on the bare bones of the $250 million figure.
• About $125 million would go, as Franklin said, to increase the savings account used to pay for health care benefits for
retired city workers. Atlanta doesn't have to do this, but it could end up paying higher interest rates on borrowed money
if it doesn't meet new accounting standards and disclose its future payments to investors.
• About $50 million would go to better services. One area where Franklin may put more money is into parks
maintenance. Franklin said Atlanta has a history of neglecting its parks. Now that Atlanta is buying parkland, the mayor
said the city should expect to pay about $74 an acre to maintain parks.
• About $30 million would go to economic development. The administration's statement doesn't say what the money
would be spent on, but Councilman Kwanza Hall, a member of the Finance Committee, said it could be used to help build
and operate a proposed civil and human rights museum.
• About $20 million would go to pay off a potential bond issue of $282 million for unspecified deferred maintenance jobs.
• About $25 million would go to construction projects. Franklin proposes shifting some construction expenses from
borrowed money to a pay-as-you-go program, which would save taxpayers money by not having to pay interest on loans.
Hall, who's in his first term at City Hall but previously served on the Atlanta school board, said sources of money haven't
been identified. But one source he suggested wouldn't cost anything.
Hall said the amount of money Atlanta should set aside to pay health care costs of retirees could be reduced if the state
would change a law that prohibits investments in certain types of funds, such as international accounts. These accounts
can yield high returns, but sometimes carry equally high risks. "That could be one of the measures we employ to dig
ourselves out of this hole," Hall said. "At least we have leadership in the mayor's office and [from] council President" Lisa
Borders.
Franklin said in her address that Atlanta should step up to become a premier city.
"We must prepare Atlanta to compete effectively with the best cities in America, matching or exceeding the 'best in class'
cities of our time," she said.
Moore, who is a vigilant watchdog of the executive branch, said the mayor was being responsible in laying out a
compelling financial picture of the costs of improving Atlanta.
"I think she was being very responsible in letting people know up front there are possible financial increases coming
down the line," Moore said.

Mayor’s State of the City of Atlanta Speech
January 2, 2007 Atlanta City Council Chamber

(Excerpt from prepared text)(See complete text at: http://www.atlantaga.gov/mayor/speech_soc2007-010207.aspx )

"...As successful as we have been over the last five years in identifying over $75 million in savings to streamline
operations (i.e. courts), to target priorities for new investment (technology, increase police and fire forces, parks,
transition housing, marketing and economic development), to stabilize the city’s finances, we now know we operate the
city on a shoestring…..and moving the city to best-in-class status will require additional investment conservatively of
$250 million per year in our General Operating Fund budget to maintain our credit rating and pension standing, to cover
the needed investment in public safety, solid waste management, parks maintenance, technology, public works,
economic development and community engagement and planning." ...