With regards to the county charter amendments... does anyone else think this is premature since we don't yet know what decision the Tennessee Supreme Court will be passing down with regards to the charter?

Is there a concise explanation of the County Charter amendments? If you vote NO what does it mean?

Greg, if you are out there could you assist on this?

As far as Item Two - O-126-06, - The purpose is to give certain
members of the G pension plan the opportunity to select a different
option within the G pension plan. The Pension Board determined that
this is an issue of equity and unfairness. They determined that it is
unfair that these members of the G plan were not able to change
options in light of the pension enhancements made in the year 2000.
The Pension Board states that allowing these members to elect a
different option is not a pension enhancement, rather it corrects an
issue on unfairness that now exists for these members. The Executive
Director of the City of Knoxville Pension Board, Mike Cherry had
several comments in Judy Loest's letter to Metropulse last week. As
was stated in Judy Loest's letter to the Metropulse last week: "Not
only are the 32 city employees affected by this amendment deserving of
its passing, but, according to Cherry, is "pocket change" to the city,
a piddling amount that would never constitute a tax increase ........
What's at stake? In the case of this particular amendment, 32 people
who may not be able to retire with full benefits even though some of
them have more than 20 years of service as city employees." The
Metropulse endorsed this issue as well as the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
The NS stated: "The pension board determined that it had been unfair
that persons under the G plan were not able to change their options
when pension enhancements were made in 2000. The amendment allows the
board to correct the error." A vote FOR THE AMENDMENT corrects this
error.

As far as Item Three - O-127-06 (I have not been nearly as involved
with this issue) - this is also a corrective measure. For those City
teachers who decided to continue to teach in the Knox County School
System after the consolidation of the City and County school systems,
the Pension Board has determined that they should receive the same
post-retirement benefits that every other City of Knoxville employee
receives. If this amendment does not pass, they will not receive the
same post-retirement (cost of living increase) benefits that all other
city employee receives. To quote the NS: "It allows teachers with the
old city school system who decided to teach in Knox County after the
two systems merged in 1987 to receive the same post-retirement, or
cost-of-living, benefits, received by other city employees." It is my
understanding that these teachers do not receive any cost of living
increase, A vote FOR THE AMENDMENT corrects this error.

The Knoxville Pension Board voted unanimously at their March 9th
meeting to forward Charter Amendment O-126-06 to Knoxville City
Council. The City Employees' Association supports this recommendation.
After reviewing the impact of these Charter Amendments, the Knoxville
City Council recommended that they be placed on this ballot. The
Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Metropulse have endorsed all four of
these City Charter Amendments.

On tonight's 10News on WBIR, Mr. Cherry again states that these two
issues are simply issues of equity and fairness. On O-126-06, the
report states: This amendment "would level the playing field for 32
employees who, because of a change in the pension plan, did not get
the same opportunity as others to choose a plan allowing them to
retire before they are 62 years old without penalty." On O-127-06,
the report states: This amendment "would keep pension benefits for
teachers who taught under the city system the same as the benefits for
those who started after the city/county consolidation.

One other thing to keep in mind, these City Charter Amendments do show the absolutely worst case scenario actuary costs. These costs should be much, much lower.

I am a member of this group of thirty-two employees and in the
interest of fairness - I certainly ask for all Knoxville voters to
support O-126-06 and to vote "FOR THE AMENDMENT".

Scott Williams