By Joni Simon
Contributing Writer

It wasn’t so much about who was at the Fair Oaks Ranch City Council Oct. 16 meeting, but about who wasn’t there. Alderman Ray Balcer’s name plate was wrapped in green ribbon and Mayor Dan Kasprowicz asked everyone to take a moment to remember a man who spent so many years serving the city both as homeowners’ association president and as a member of the council. Balcer died Oct. 4 in his sleep.

Kasprowicz asked the council to think about what they wanted to do about the vacancy at the November meeting.

“There are three options. One is to leave the seat vacant. Or, we could appoint someone. You should have some candidates in mind by next month, if that’s what you want to do,” the mayor said. “The final option is to hold a special election.”

Kasprowicz told the council he should know more at next month’s meeting about the extent of the city’s participation in the dark sky lighting plan.

“Our involvement is going to be more than I once thought,” he said. “Currently, we’re waiting for San Antonio to finalize their plans.”

During the action portion of the meeting, the council approved reappointing Dr. Fernando Guerra, the health official for the city of San Antonio, as the health authority for Fair Oaks Ranch at no cost to the city.

“We don’t offer up too much, but we’re on the receiving end,” Alderman Frank Pickart said. “Anything San Antonio is willing to do with us, we should be grateful for it.”

By Jeff Wentworth
Guest Commentary  

These days many retirees may be identifying with the old country western song that declared, “Sure could use a little good news today.”

Well, the good news is that for both current and retired teachers as well as state employees, your pension funds are intact.

And that is good news not only for teachers and state employees, it is also good news for other Texans when teachers and state employees spend their money at local businesses.

A total of more than two million Texans are either retirees or contributing members to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) or the Employee Retirement System (ERS).

TRS provides retirement, death and disability benefits to more than one million Texas public education employees and annuitants.

In 2007, these payments totaled approximately $5.8 billion, of which 95 percent stayed in the state, going to Texas residents and paying state and local taxes. These TRS pension benefits generated $493 million in annual state fiscal revenues and $103 million in local government revenue last year.

TRS and ERS funds should continue to remain sound in spite of the current economic situation, because each is a defined benefit plan. These plans are intentionally designed to weather market conditions.

A defined benefit plan portfolio is highly diversified. It is invested for the long-term so it will withstand market fluctuations.

If you are a retired member of ERS, for example, your monthly retirement benefit cannot and will not change as a result of a short-term investment loss. The accounts of contributing members of ERS are not affected by the financial market. It does not impact the amount of guaranteed interest a retirement account earns each year, currently five percent. The state legislature establishes the interest rate.

Some retired teachers have expressed concern about TRS’s strategic partnership with now bankrupt Lehman Brothers. These funds — about 1 percent of the total TRS portfolio — are in the control of TRS. They are neither held by Lehman Brothers nor commingled with Lehman Brothers funds.

All of TRS’s investment assets totaled $104.9 billion as of Aug. 31 of this year. The fund was down only 4.3 percent. In comparison, the market overall was down double or even triple digits.

TRS ended the previous year at $112 billion, making it the ninth largest pension plan in the United States’ private and public sectors. It is the seventh largest in the public sector.

The ERS Trust Fund has $21 billion to pay promised benefits. Its long-term performance has exceeded expectations.

More about each system’s benefit plan may be found on each of their respective Web sites. The ERS Web site also offers brochures that are helpful in understanding market volatility and defined benefit plans.

While state employees’ and teachers’ salaries sometimes do not compare favorably with the private sector, at times such as these, there are definite benefits to having retired from the public sector.

Texas State Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) represents District 25, which includes part of Bexar County. He can be reached via e-mail at jeff.wentworth@senate. state.tx.us­

By Joni Simon
Contributing Writer

Fresh from shutting down the $328 million plan to build new toll lanes on U.S. Highway 281, toll road opponent Terri Hall and her activist group, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, have a new goal: To get rid of San Antonio District 8 City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian.

A Web site www.recalldiane.com has surfaced; the address is registered to Hall. The site claims Cibrian effectively “voted to raise transportation taxes” and “voted in favor of toll roads.”

The site also claims Cibrian has been “abrasive, vindictive and unresponsive to the will of the people” and points out her acceptance of a vacation at a Cancun condo owned by a developer as evidence of her “cronyism and corruption.”

Hall does not live in Cibrian’s district, and doesn’t even live in San Antonio, as Cibrian was quick to point out.

“I believe she tried this effort before and it didn’t get anywhere, and it’s not going to get anywhere now,” Cibrian said. “I’m just going to move forward and do great things.”

Although she has launched an exploratory committee for next spring’s San Antonio mayoral election, Cibrian has not formally announced her candidacy. She bristled at Hall’s suggestion that she has “voted in favor of toll roads.”

Cibrain added she was “duly elected by her constituents” and she plans to “continue to work for the will of the people.”

By Linda Byrne
Editor

Boerne will stay under Stage 2 water restrictions at least until Nov. 10, the City Council decided on Oct. 14.

Assistant City Manager Jeff Thompson told the council that water supplies are adequate and “the city can safely return to Stage 1 restrictions and still meet the 40 percent water use reduction requirements for our Cow Creek wells.”

Stage 1 calls for voluntary conservation of water, while Stage 2 limits sprinkling to one day per week, said Pamela Bransford, communications director for the city, after the meeting.

But some council members felt lifting the restrictions on water use in the city would be wrong as the drought of 2008 continues.

“I think we’re sending the wrong message. I don’t think it’s prudent to lift restrictions when we’re still in a drought. We have to do our part for our wells in the county and all our neighbors,” said Councilman Rob Ziegler.

Councilman Jeff Haberstroh countered that Boerne, unlike the county, has three sources of water and that ratepayers have paid “a heck of a lot of money to buy water and have a sustainable source of water.”

“At some point, we have to weigh the option of giving them full value for what they’re paying for,” he said. “I also believe that there is no way we can ever fully implement the same type of water staging that we do with Cow Creek (county wells), because that is a sole source of water versus a community that is supplementing itself with three, and in the near future, four sources of water,” Haberstroh said.

Thompson explained the Stage 2 restrictions were triggered by high usage during the hottest summer days, not availability.

“I’m not saying the drought is over. I’m saying we can come out of Stage 2,” he said. Councilman Bob Manning agreed with Ziegler, saying “we need to support the status quo. Let’s wait until it rains.”

“As a matter of public policy, which is our job up here, I think (lifting restrictions) is absolutely the wrong thing to do,” he said. “It’s a message that borders on insulting or arrogant. If we anticipate that going back to Stage 1 would create an increase in water usage, then that is very unfortunate.”

Haberstroh noted the city is in a precarious spot.

“Let’s also be mindful that this is an economic issue, too. We need to sell water in order to have revenue to pay for services,” Haberstroh interjected.

“I would hate to see this council ever make decisions based on how much money we can make,” Manning retorted.

Councilman Jacques DuBose then noted that “we have financial obligations as a result of the three water supplies that exist. If you cut off the revenue stream, you’ve got to find that money somewhere else in our budget.”

Councilman Ron Warden weighed in with a compromise the council liked.

“We have more resources for water than we’ve ever had before,” he said. “But we shouldn’t go from watering once a week to all you want to water. I’d like to see us table this and come back with a Stage One and a Half.”

Under that plan, as suggested by City Manager Ron Bowman, the city’s Stage 2 would allow lawn watering with sprinklers twice a week. The council then voted unanimously to table the item until Nov. 10 until while proposal is hashed out.