Thread: Drowning in pension debt

San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial

Drowning in pension debt

By Union-Tribune Editorial Board,
Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

NORTH COUNTY — Cities in our region and throughout the state are reeling from ever-growing budget gaps that force waves of layoffs and reductions in public services.

On the expense side, a primary cause is public employee pensions that were unwisely increased to unsustainable levels.

Public safety employees in many cities can retire at age 50 with 3 percent of salary times years of service. Other employees can retire at 60. Government pension formulas typically are based on the last year or service, not the final three or five years as in the private sector.

Carlsbad’s pension dilemma was outlined at a recent workshop and the crisis could become a key issue in the city’s mayoral race this fall.

In a regional effort, most of the city managers in San Diego County are making a concerted push to reduce costs.

Statewide, the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility has abandoned an effort to qualify a ballot initiative. It would have saved Californians $14 billion over five years by changing police and fire in all cities to a formula of 2.3 at age 58 and general employees without Social Security to 1.65 at 67.

We advocate municipal pension reform. Today, we’ll let the Carlsbad numbers speak for themselves.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... sion-debt/

http://www.pensiontsunami.com/


That approaching wave of pension debt is a lot bigger than it looks. The purpose of this site is to provide an overview of the multiple pension crises that are about to drown America's taxpayers. Our primary focus is on California, but we also track other states, corporate pensions, social security and international trends.