Higley disçusses virtual status
Water use concerns raised
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS...................... 11 Rivulon wants to add 325 apartments.
COMMUNITY........ 20 Wheelchair-bound Gilbert man seeks help.
Couple opens vinyl record store in Gilbert. COMMUNITY.......................................20 BUSINESS.............................................24 SPORTS..................................................28 GETOUT..................................................31 CLASSIFIEDS.......................................34
Sunday, August 7, 2022
3 of 4 Council races appear resolved BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
T
hree of the four contested Gilbert Town Council seats in last week’s Primary Election appear to have avoided a run-off in November while the fourth seat remains a possible November ballot item. Unofficial results showed incumbent Yung Koprowski and political newcomers Chuck Bongiovanni and Jim garnered the requisite vote percentages to take a seat on Council in January while Bill Spence and Bobbi Buchli likely will head to a run-off Nov. 8. Incumbent Scott September fell to the middle of the pack while Michael Clark, Bus Obayomi and Mario Chicas never gained any ground after Tuesday night’s initial results put them in the bottom three slots of the nine-way race.
Chuck Bongiovanni
Yung Koprowski
Jim Torgeson
Koprowski, who led the field of nine hopefuls with 13.7% of the vote, said, “I believe my background and experience as an entrepreneur and civil engineer appealed to voters. “Voters told me that they appreciated my
focus on infrastructure issues, including transportation safety and water resources.” This was Koprowski’s first election as she was appointed to the council in 2020.
But that combined debt pales in comparison to the staggering $3.4 billion the City of Phoenix owes – which accounts for nearly half the $8.84 billion of the unfunded liability in the retirement system that existed at the close of the 2021-22 fiscal year on June 30. For the entire system, including county and state corrections officers’ retirement plans and the plan for judges and elected officials, that number was $10.9 billion. Still, the state Legislature – together with county, municipalities and fire districts – eliminated $2.85 billion of unfunded pension debt last fiscal year. “I think it’s great,” said PSPRS Administrator Mike Townsend, who has been in the job since November 2019.
“This system has been underfunded for so long and those lingering unfunded liabilities just ended up costing taxpayers more and more money over time,” he said, calling the government employers’ additional paydowns “a huge move.” “I think also it speaks well to the staff that we’ve put in place and the changes we’ve made,” he added, referring to both his agency’s investment strategies and other internal moves as well as the vibrancy of Wall Street prior to its current woes. Although the final results of PSPRS’ investments for the 2021-22 fiscal year won’t be known for a few months, its success in the 2020-21 fiscal year drew kudos in the
see ELECTIONS page 6
Cities bite big into public safety pension debt BY PAUL MARYNIAK GSN Executive Editor
BUSINESS............. 24
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
E
ast Valley municipalities in the last fiscal year took advantage of unanticipated general fund revenue increases to make big additional payments on their debt to pensions earned by thousands of retired police officers and firefighters. But Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler and Scottsdale still have a long way to go before they erase their huge unfunded liabilities. Those five municipalities still owe a total $1.4 billion for pensions covering 955 retired firefighters, 1,471 retired cops and hundreds more firefighters and officers who are covered by Arizona’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, records show.
see PENSIONS page 17