It’s tough to find someone as familiar with a public employee pay and benefits package as Kevin Hart. The Kensington interim police chief and Dublin city councilman is raking in more than $370,000 in government salaries and pension this year.
But it’s Hart’s free taxpayer-funded health care — and how he got it — that is causing the latest flap in the scandal-plagued upscale East Bay enclave that swore him in as chief with a ceremony replete with Boy Scout honor guard.
Even though Hart, 56, was already what’s known among government watchdogs as a “triple-dipper,” he wasn’t familiar enough with his multiple options for health coverage when he touted to Kensington officials this June that one of his selling points for their police job was that he didn’t need them to pay for his health insurance.
Kensington officials’ eyes lit up at what penciled out to about $18,000 in savings.
“It was one of the reasons” he was hired, said Vanessa Cordova, of the local Police Protection and Community Services District board.
But just days after beating out five others for the job that carries other benefits of permanent employment — such as vacation, administrative leave and pension contributions — Hart reversed course and said he had to renegotiate.
He would need medical coverage after all because his plans to jump from state insurance to coverage from Dublin fell apart.
“Stupid me,” said Hart, who started the year on the payroll of the Department of State Hospitals and is also drawing a $223,000 a year pension after retiring as Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy. He didn’t know that state retirement system rules wouldn’t let him take full health coverage from his part-time Dublin post while also working for Kensington, he said
His other option to stick to his promise — medical coverage from the Alameda County retirement system that posed no conflict — wasn’t an option because he would have to pay for it, he said. “That costs money. That isn’t free.”
But Kensington’s coverage is free. Its employees pay no share of health insurance costs.
Hart made one concession, agreeing to cut his $150,000 a year pay by $5,000 to help make up for the cost. But his reversal means that to supply him health insurance, the district will be paying roughly $6,600 more than it originally negotiated to employ him until his contract expires in March. The board can renew his contract for three months, or make him the permanent chief.
Meanwhile, insurance in hand, Hart said he had knee surgery in November, missing seven days of work.
New flaps are raising old questions about lack of oversight in this small town still reeling from a scandal over a detective whose gun and badge were stolen by a prostitute in his Reno hotel room and the firing of Hart’s predecessor, Greg Harman.
Kensington’s “been plagued with personnel issues for so long, many wonder if this entity is impervious to reform,” Cordova said, adding she’s “concerned about the community’s confidence in our ability to manage even the most basic” governance.
Board members acknowledge, there’s plenty of blame to share this time.
“We didn’t catch it, our lawyers didn’t catch it,” district President Len Welsh said. “It was an honest mistake.”
“It’s partially (Hart’s) fault, and I sort of messed up,” the district’s labor lawyer, John Holtzman, said Wednesday. “The rules are pretty obscure.” The district “could have just made him pay for it, but he balked.”
Now, residents like Celia Concis are asking hard questions: “Can we rely on Hart to manage the intricacies of the district budget and understand retirement obligations if he couldn’t even get his owns health benefits straight?” she said Wednesday.
Follow Thomas Peele on Twitter.com/thomas_peele. Email him at Tpeele@bayareanewsgroup.com
Kevin Hart’s approximate 2105 cash pay
Alameda County Pension: $223,000
Kensington Police: $84,600*
Dublin City Council $10,000
Department of State Hospitals: $57,000**
*- Over seven months
** – Over five months
