ELECT DEMETRIOS NIKAS
SAN MATEO COUNTY SUPERVISOR
THE ONLY ISSUE-BASED CANDIDATE

APRIL, 2011 ELECTION

• San Mateo County will hold a special election that ends May 3rd to fill the seat of a departed County Supervisor.
• The election will be by MAIL-IN-BALLOT ONLY. The ballots will arrive during the first week of  April.

SAN MATEO COUNTY’S BUDGET DEFICIT IS ESTIMATED TO BE AROUND $150 MILLION

SAN MATEO’S INCONVENIENT TRUTH THE BUDGET CANNOT BE BALANCED UNLESS WE REIGN IN UNSUSTAINABLE PUBLIC PENSIONS

THE CONSEQUENCES IF WE FAIL TO ACT
• Insufficient money for school programs, libraries, road repairs, infrastructure investments, and general services.
• Unrealistic expectations by public workers for ever-increasing pay and benefits.

WHY VOTE FOR DEMETRIOS NIKAS
• Nikas, a private sector retiree, is the ONLY candidate who has made public pension reform his NUMBER ONE issue.
• Four of the six candidates in this race have public sector careers and are waiting to participate in the already unrealistic public pension system. A clear conflict of interest with their fiduciary responsibility to voters.
• Nikas is willing to make change and understands the details of the county budget and pension relationships.

WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF SOME CORRECTIONS THAT CAN BE MADE?
1. Require a public vote at regularly scheduled elections to approve any pension package.
2. Set a cap at 9% of salary paid by the county for pensions. This is more than is paid by private employers for Social Security.
3. Use the Social Security age levels to determine when public employees would receive full pension payouts. Earlier retirement could be taken with actuarial adjustment to payments, just like Social Security.
4. Place a maximum of $100,000 per year on ANY pension paid by the County. That’s three times  more than the max payout for Social Security. The vast majority of public employees would not be affected. High paid employees can afford to put aside a portion of their own money for even more comfortable retirement, just like the rest of us.
5. Read the executive summary of the just issued (2/24/2011) Little Hoover Commission Report
http://www.lhc.ca.gov/studies/204/Executive%20Summary204.pdf

REASONABLE PUBLIC PENSION PROGRAMS ARE NOT POLITICAL, IT’S SIMPLE MATHEMATICS
• Virtually every public pension program has liabilities greater than assets. In the private sector that forces bankruptcy.
• Our elected officials have NOT been willing to address the issue of pension reform. They “go along to get along”.
• In November, 2010 Menlo Park voted 72 PERCENT to change the city’s pension package for future public employees.
• Now voters need to take action in San Mateo County.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
• Look for your ballot in the mail in early April.

• VOTE FOR DEMETRIOS NIKAS and let’s begin to talk about a realistic structure for public pensions.