How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Tom Philpott
The Department of Defense’s Board of Actuaries in late July overhauled the assumptions used to calculate what the services must budget for annually to cover future retirement obligations to the current force.
It acted on analyses from the DoD Office of the Actuary which, for the first time, weighed the effects on retirement costs of Post-9/11 developments including nine years of sustained operations, a deep economic recession and growth in military entitlements of retirees and survivors.
The result is an $800 million jump in accrual retirement costs the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have to pay starting 2012 because more service members are staying until retirement.
Some of that cost too is a projected 40 percent increase in disability retirements, the result of a crackdown on the low-balling of disability awards by service through stricter compliance with rating practices of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Another $200 million in added yearly retirement costs is attributed to retirees living longer. Death rates are falling – and sharply.
“The improvement that military retirees are seeing in their own mortality is just phenomenal,” said Peter Rossi, one of DoD actuaries that worked on revising projected retirement costs.
Retiree deaths are “decreasing at such a rapid rate – faster than the American public, faster than anyone else – we are seeing a 2-plus percent a year change for active, reserve. It’s everybody.”
Deaths for non-disabled retirees in 2008-09 were 8 percent lower than found for non-disabled retirees in 2004-2005. For retired reservists, data showed a 4 percent drop.
No cause has been identified, Rossi added. “Maybe military folks are just in better shape.”
The changes in actuarial assumptions reportedly surprised Under Secretary of Defense Robert Hale, the DoD comptroller, who already was under considerable pressure to curb the services’ soaring personnel costs.
“The comptroller was not pleased,” said one official. “He now had to go out and find [$1 billion] when Defense Secretary [Robert] Gates is telling him he needs to save money. That was a contentious issue for a while.”
The retention rate of careerist is so high that in the 2012 budget to be delivered to Congress next February, the services will assume that 19 percent of all new entrants serve for 20 years, long enough to qualify for retirement. That’s a “huge” change from the 17 percent previously assumed, said Rossi.
Specifically, the probability of newly commissioned officers reaching retirement will climb to 49 percent from 47. For new enlistees, the assumed retirement rate will be raised to 17 percent from 15.
It forces the services overall to set aside $20 billion in their 2012 budgets to cover active duty retirement costs, an unplanned for 5 percent jump. Another $2.8 billion will have to be set aside for Guard and Reserve retirement but that’s unchanged. Rossi said the Office of the Actuary has not reconsidered assumptions for Guard and Reserve retirement but it soon will.
Another way to look at the effect of the new assumptions on retirement costs is by individual member costs. For fiscal 2011 the services will set aside $32.70 for future retired pay for every $100 paid in basic pay. That proportion will climb to $34.30 for every $100 in basis pay in fiscal 2012. So if a service member draws $50,000 in basic pay, his or her service will have to pony up $17,150 that year for future retired pay, or $800 more than was needed a year earlier.
For many years, the military ignored future retirement obligations, budgeting only to cover payments due each year to current retirees and survivors. That pay-as-you-go method created a huge unfunded liability. Critics also said the services had no incentive to control retirement costs.
In 1984 Congress ordered DoD to switch to “accrual accounting” for retirement accounts. The Treasury Department was given responsibility for the unfunded liability and established a military retirement trust fund. The services began to pay into that fund whatever amount was needed to cover retirement costs for the current active, Guard and Reserve forces.
So retirement obligations today are paid from two pots. Treasury pays roughly $50 billion a year to cover annuities of current retirees and survivors. The services pay more than $20 billion a year in accrual payments.
Once again, no COLA
The board of actuaries assumed at its July meeting that military retirees, social security recipients, federal civilian retirees, disabled veterans and survivors will have to wait until at least January 2012 before they see their next cost-of-living adjustment or COLA.
That prediction looks even more solid now, to the regret of retirees.
No COLA was paid last year because there was no inflation. The cost of goods and services, in fact, fell by 2.1 percent from the third quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of 2009, the periods used to track CPI.
To trigger a COLA for next January, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for July through September this year would have to climb by more than 2.1 percent above the third-quarter base period of 2008. For that to happen, prices would have to surge 2 percent in September alone. There are no signs that is happening.
No COLA last year eased the unfunded liability of the military retirement system by $22.3 billion. But it gave no relief to service budgets because Treasury’s pays COLAs of current retirees. Rossi said that over time retirees can expect COLAs to deliver an annual average boost of 3 percent.
To comment, send e-mail to
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
- Details
- Written by: Mary Heare Amodio
Since its inception in April 2009, the task force has obtained the resignation of 12 attorneys involved in loan modification misconduct.
The efforts of the Task Force have also resulted in six pending loan modification trials, 1,800 active investigations and the processing of more than 4,000 complaints by consumers.
Attorneys who have been disbarred as a result of the task force’s actions have been charged with wide range of misconduct, including the collection of illegal fees; failure to refund fees; nonperformance of work they were hired to perform (loan modifications and foreclosure defense); the formation of partnerships with non-attorneys and assisting non-attorneys in the unauthorized practice of law; filing of frivolous and phony lawsuits to reduce mortgage debt; abandoning clients; failing to return files/documents to clients; making misrepresentations to the court; and, practicing law in states where they are not licensed.
Potential clients are led to believe that all loans can and will be modified by lenders. Consumers should be aware that not all loans can or will be modified by lenders and that many of these operations make no attempt at modifying the loans.
In October 2009 a new law, SB 94, was signed in to law, prohibiting persons from charging advance fees to borrowers in connection with the modification of the terms of the borrower’s loan and requiring those who wish to charge a fee for loan modification services (after performing them) to provide a specific notice to borrowers regarding other options available to the borrower.
Since April 2009 the Loan Modification Task Force has received more than 1,250 complaints and is investigating almost 250 lawyers for questionable practices.
Close to 20,000 attorney files have been removed from the offices of attorneys whose loan modification practices have been shut down or abandoned.
Local law enforcement, the California Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have partnered with the task force to investigate and stop businesses and law firms that prey on individuals in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.
“Our office has given a very high priority to allegations of attorney misconduct in connection with loan modification service, and I have been very impressed by the successful work of the Loan Modification Task Force – to date, 12 lawyers have surrendered their licenses, and four stipulated disbarments have been approved by the State Bar Court,” said Chief Trial Counsel Jim Towery of the State Bar recently commented. “I intend to maintain the office’s aggressive stance with respect to attorneys that have engaged in loan modification misconduct.”
For more information about reporting attorney misconduct go to www.calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/LawyerRegulation.aspx.
For local assistance with evaluating the options if you are headed toward a foreclosure, contact the California Human Development Corporation at 3315 Airway Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, telephone 707-372-4588 or 707-521-4789 or, for Lake County seniors only, the Senior Law Project at 707-263-4703. Both CHDC and the Sr. Law Project are HUD-approved agencies for loan modification assistance.
Mary Heare Amodio is president of the Lake County Bar Association and practices in the areas of estate planning, probate, conservatorship, guardianship, consumer bankruptcy, in addition to business and real estate transactions. She can be reached at 707-263-5759 or at
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Friday morning incident claimed the life of 57-year-old Zino Eddine Mezoui, owner of Zino's Ristorante in Kelseyville, a man known for his passion for food and friends.
“We're still following some leads,” said CHP officer Joe Wind.
Mezoui, who had just taken his green 1995 Honda Gold Wing motorcycle out for a long-awaited ride, was traveling southbound on Highway 29 at approximately 10:17 a.m. when a blue 1993 Chevrolet Suburban entered the highway from Seigler Canyon Road directly in his path, according to the CHP report.
The motorcycle collided with the Suburban's driver side door, the CHP said. Witnesses reported that Mezoui and his motorcycle came to rest in the middle of the roadway after the crash.
The Suburban's male driver then fled the scene, the CHP reported. The driver turned around and was last seen heading westbound back up Seigler Canyon Road.
The CHP reported that its officers located the suspect vehicle on Friday but are continuing to investigate who the Suburban's driver was.
Mezoui was flown by REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where the CHP said he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.
Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said an autopsy is planned on Tuesday morning.
CHP Officer Ryan Erickson is leading the incident investigation.
Anyone with information should call the CHP's Clear Lake Office, 707-279-0103.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Kimberlee Annette Westbay, 52, died in the crash, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The collision occurred just after 10:30 a.m. Friday on Highway 20 at Scotts Valley Road near Blue Lakes, officials reported.
Anton Timothy Kloiber, 34, of Piercy was driving a black 2008 Chevy Tahoe westbound on Highway 20 when he is alleged to have allowed his vehicle to travel into the oncoming lane in front of Westbay's black 1990 Nissan pickup, according to the CHP report.
The two vehicles collided, with Westbay's Nissan spinning off the roadway, the CHP said.
The CHP said Kloiber's Tahoe continued westbound, hitting the left rear of a red Ford F-150 pickup driven by 48-year-old Dale Box of Upper Lake.
Westbay was pronounced dead at the scene, the CHP said, with Kloiber complaining of minor pain and Box sustaining no injuries, the CHP said.
The CHP arrested Kloiber shortly after 11:30 a.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to the report.
He was booked into the Lake County Jail just after 7:30 p.m. Friday on felony charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs causing bodily injury. Bail was set at $150,000.
Kloiber later posted bail and was released. He had been scheduled to be in court on Monday.
Bauman said an autopsy was performed Monday morning on Westbay, with the cause of the crash pending further investigation by the CHP. Officer Greg Buchholz is the case's investigative officer.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at