by Jay A. McCalla

For the longest time, the pension fund for the City of Philadelphia has been managed as a bottomless pit of cash from which to repay campaign contributors, placate unions, pay “bonuses” and generally play Drunken Santa to an array of thirsty constituencies. Drunken Santa – substitute the name of any mayor – is blissfully unconcerned with the shocking impact of this shameless profligacy.

Last week, it was announced that our pension fund – which is currently $5.7 billion short – lost $149 million in 2016. Investment services are not competitively bid and there is a high correlation between mayoral campaign donors and the list of firms managing our pension investments. Therefore, the Mayor is not in a position to crack the whip and demand better performance.

As context is everything, let me say 2016’s $149 million loss comes on the heels of 2015’s $218 million loss. Crazy isn’t it? While the stock market generally booms and 401k’s have recovered lost value, Philly’s pension fund loses almost a half billion in two years.

Not only is the fund frighteningly underfunded and hemorrhaging cash due to poor management, we continue to pay Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) bonuses which exceed $100 million annually. Without explanation, Mayor Kenney has declined to terminate this Rendell-era extravagance.

While most mayors have been cavalier towards our pension obligations, Jim Kenney deserves “extra credit” because, as a councilman, he created a “bonus” plan for pensioners that paid out $70 million over the last two years. Again, with the “bottomless pit”.

The City Controller is our fiscal watchdog, but rarely weighs in on such touchy matters. His focus leans towards the efficacious management of petty cash or departmental overtime.

The Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Agency (PICA) should speak very forcefully about all this, but it is now chaired by Kevin Vaughan who ran a super PAC that supported Mayor Kenney’s election. It would be extraordinarily unusual if the chair criticized his sponsor.

Getting back to the “bottomless pit,” we annually throw more than $620 million into it and still have no path to full funding. The political chicanery of our leaders has created a time bomb that seems likely to destroy our credit rating – driving up the cost of borrowing – as well as decimate the lives of our retirees.

Given what is at stake, one might think our leaders would be immersed in fervent problem solving. But, no. The transition from Drunken Santa to responsible custodian is too much of a stretch for our guys and gals.

A pension reform bill introduced by Jim Kenney creates new tiers for benefits and contributions. It represents a modest “haircut” for city workers, but Council President Darrell Clarke has blocked that bill until Council members are exempted from shared sacrifice. He couldn't block Kenney unless he had the silent support of a majority of the Council.

Further evidence of the Drunken Santa syndrome is the insistence of our elected officials to continually create new spending without any regard to our unpaid bills. Since Kenney took office, he's created community schools, pre-K and reprogrammed $40 million for after-school activities.

The infamous soda tax was passed, in part, to service $300 million in new debt to be created by Kenney’s infrastructure plans. Spend. Spend. Spend. Our “Paris Hilton” approach to finances cannot last.

At an increasing velocity, our bills are becoming past due. Our schools require an immediate infusion of $3 billion for infrastructure and still are reeling from former Governor Tom Corbett’s very severe cuts of some years ago.

We cannot tax our way out of this gathering existential crisis and must resist the temptation to try. There are smart people in our government who know how to responsibly lead us forward, but they all work for politicians.

It may be time for the faculties at the finance departments of our great area universities to perform a Grand Mitzvah and convene a meeting to provide the guidance and shaming we so sorely need.

Jay A. McCalla is a former deputy managing director and chief of staff for Philadelphia City Council. He does political commentary on WURD900AM and contributes to Philadelphia Magazine. He can be followed and reached on Twitter @jayamccalla1.