Newton retirement board heading on Vegas junket

March 10, 2010 by Newton Tab

Two members of Newton’s Retirement Board plan to spend about $5,000 of taxpayer money to attend a conference in Las Vegas this spring, a trip that is drawing sharp criticism from Mayor Setti Warren.

“I believe it is completely inappropriate for the members to take that trip at this time, when we need to show we are spending every single dollar in a cost-effective action,” Warren said. “I strongly urge the board to reconsider their decision.”

The conference’s agenda includes daily breakout sessions and networking luncheons, as well as a trip to the Hoover Dam and a closing dinner and show featuring “A Night with Legends,” featuring impersonators of Elvis, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart and the Blues Brothers.

Fran Capello, one of the scheduled attendees, said the trip would be worth the expense.

“If I didn’t think we’d bring something back, I don’t think we’d be going,” Capello said.

Warren said he asked Retirement Board Chairman Nunzio Piselli to reconsider the vote, and Piselli said he would consider it. Piselli and City Comptroller David Wilkinson, who sits on the board, voted against the trip at the board’s Feb. 24 meeting. Capello and Paul Bianchi, who is also going on the trip, voted yes, as did member Kimberly Fletcher.

Capello said retirement board members have been attending the symposium, hosted by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, for more than a decade. According to Retirement Board budget figures, the last four trips have cost about $19,000.

Capello and Bianchi will stay at the Wynn Las Vegas, which features Le Reve, a performance troupe featuring “aerial acrobatics, provocative choreography and artistic athleticism.”

The hotel also contains the nightclub Blush, described on its website as “The perfect place for a tryst and nightlife so hot it’ll make you blush.”

Attending the conference would be beneficial for the city, Capello and Fletcher told the TAB in separate interviews.

Fletcher said it was important for board members to keep abreast of changes in the law, and that Newton members would benefit from networking with retirement officials in other cities.

Capello said the conferences give attendees a chance to get new ideas about investing and saving the city money through “knocking down the cost” of retirees while keeping their benefits.

“We try to make sure retirees can keep the health-care plans we have now, and if there’s a better way to help the city, we’d love to find that, too,” Capello said.

The Retirement Board manages the city’s pensions and approves retirement plans. It has two appointed members, Fletcher and Piselli, a former DPW worker. Capello, a retired firefighter and Bianchi, a police officer, are voted in, and Wilkinson is an ex officio member.

The city allocates funds, including a travel expense, for the Retirement Board every year. For the past few years, that allocation has been $9,700, with the funds used for both NCPERS trips and in-state conferences. If travel money is not used, it goes back into the retirement system’s general fund.

Retirement director Kelly Byrne said state law requires any travel expense to be pre-approved by the retirement board. She estimated the costs for the Las Vegas trip based on hotel and registration fees, the average airplane ticket price, and allowable meal expenses of $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner.

Three weeks ago, Warren told city employees that in order to save money, they should not travel out of state for conferences. Warren does not have the authority to stop the trip because the board members are not employees. While it may be within the board’s jurisdiction to approve the expense, the mayor said he thought it sent the wrong message.

“At this time, it’s an inappropriate expenditure of funds,” Warren said.