j, DROP programs in and of themsleves can save an organization money. The City of San Diego’s particular DROP was horribly engineered, but that doesn’t mean DROPs are bad, what is bad is guaranteeing high interest on deposits and not implementing any takaways that other drops have. A no interest, no raise DROP, works for any organization with a fixed benefit pension but needs to be used only for skill positions with lengthy training protocol, so it needs to be used selectively and be written in favor of the employer. I could bore the hell out of you with the specifics on how they work and how they should be designed but lets just say that the concept isn’t flawed, the city’s version of it is.

Fiscally, S.D. is not in good shape and as much as Auirre’s style is annoying, it would probably be in worse shape today if he wasn’t there.