How The Economy is Hitting Alameda's City Budgets.

A special report for the Berkeley Daily Planet funded by the Spot.us community

Nearly two months after Alameda City Manager Debra Kurita resigned, the island city is still trying to sound the depths of the financial crisis caused by her falsely inflated budgets.

Kurita quietly left her job Feb. 26 with little more than a one-paragraph public statement, which was posted on the city’s website. What Kurita did not mention in her statement was that she decided to resign after three intense, closed-session meetings to discuss her job performance. At issue was the city’s 2008–2009 budget, which suddenly turned up at least $2.1 million short.

You can read the rest of this story at The Berkeley Daily Planet.

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Link Journalism from Spot.Us

General Alameda Links and News Sources

On Debra Kurita

Debra Kurita - when she was first hired in 2005

A profile of Kurita from May 2008.

The Island: Gives a play-by-play of Kurita's leaving and finanical settlments which include.

• Payroll for six months, receiving her salary and benefits. She’ll also have up to 24 months to sell her East End home, which was paid for in part with a $250,000 loan from the city.
• She will be paid $8,990.92 every two weeks through September 12 and will also receive medical and dental benefits. (She’s also due about $35,000 before taxes for the 374 hours of vacation she’s racked up.)

Official statement.

Who should be Alameda's next city manager?

On Worker's compensation elsewhere in the Bay.

San Jose's workers' comp costs exceed comparable cities

City compensation over the top – and it's not just about 'the system' "The labor unions are collectively kidding themselves if they continue to refuse to acknowledge the new economic reality which private sector businesses have been dealing with for at least three years. The days of astounding defined benefits like 3 percent retirement at 50 years old must come to an immediate halt."   Santa Cruz budget challenges daunting, not insurmountable: "The city's department heads will reduce their compensation by 10 percent as well, and we are in the process of asking others to follow suit. We are deeply grateful for the contributions being made by our workforce in response to the city's historic budget crisis."   Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Worker's comp rates poised to rise. "The workers’ comp system has long displayed signs of impending rate increases, including the consistent urgings from state actuaries and projected loss ratios climbing past 100 for the first time since the reforms. But brokers say the change still has yet to show up in the market."