First Ever Release of Complete 2013 CalPERS Compensation Data Helps Explain California’s 140 Proposed Tax Increases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sacramento, California, September 30, 2014

Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org, 916-258-2396

Average 2013 CalPERS Pension Payout for Career Bureaucrat is $64,448, Twice the Maximum Social Security Retirement Benefit

First Ever Release of Complete 2013 CalPERS Compensation Data Helps Explain California’s 140 Proposed Tax Increases

Today, the California Policy Center (CPC) released never-before-seen 2013 CalPERS base pension payout data, including names, on TransparentCalifornia.com, the state’s largest database of government employee and retiree compensation.

The data shows that the average 2013 pension for those who worked 30 years or more and received a full year’s pension was $64,448 for the year. For those who retired in 2000 or later, the average pension was $68,403. This is more than twice the maximum Social Security benefit of $31,704 that a private sector retiree could receive after working for 35 years and retiring at the age of 66.

Such high pensions represent tens of billions of dollars in state and local spending and huge portions of state and local budgets. This fiscal strain helps explain why there are 140 proposed tax increases on Californian ballots this November.

To view the comprehensive database, which includes all 583,045 CalPERS pensioners, click here.

Other notable findings include:

• 2,335 CalPERS pension recipients took home pensions greater than 100 percent of their CalPERS-determined “final compensation” in 2013.
• Over 1,100 California State University pensioners are “double dipping,” collecting both a CalPERS pension and a paycheck in 2013. This includes over 60 employees collecting a pension while working as “special consultants” at the campus they “retired” from.
• 224 CalPERS pension recipients took home pensions greater than $200,000 in 2013. That’s up 39 percent, from 161 retirees, in 2012.
• 16,838 CalPERS pension recipients took home pensions greater than $100,000 in 2013. That’s up 20 percent, from 13,999 retirees, in 2012.
• Average pension payouts in the Judicial Retirement System of $115,248 in 2013.
• The top three biggest pensions CalPERS paid in 2013 went to:

  –  Bruce V. Malkenhorst, City of Vernon, $551,688

  –  Michael D. Johnson, County of Solano, $378,464

  –  Joaquin Fuster, UCLA, $327,417

“Average pensions of $64,448 represent significantly more than what the comparable private sector worker could hope to have on hand for retirement,” said Mark Bucher, president of the California Policy Center. “Meanwhile, these same private sector workers are on the hook for the litany of proposed tax increases necessary to fund such profligate pensions.”

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The California Policy Center is a non-partisan public policy think tank that aspires to provide information that will elevate and enlighten the public dialogue on vital issues facing Californians, with the goal of helping to foster constructive progress towards more equitable and sustainable management of California’s public institutions. Learn more at www.TransparentCalifornia.com or www.CaliforniaPolicyCenter.org.