Pensions | California Policy Center

San Diego Police Losing Officers To Lucrative Retirements, Not Other Departments

Editor’s Note: The following article addresses an ongoing debate: Are local police departments in California where pension reforms have been enacted, San Diego and San Jose in particular, losing officers and new hires faster than they can replace them because of these reforms? Readers of this article are encouraged to also read the response posted...

By Robert Fellner

California's Cities Aren't Alone – Unions Trample Finances in Scranton, Pennsylvania

The city of Scranton hiked property taxes 57% and garbage collection fees 69% to shore up a police and fire pension funds that will run out of money anyway, in 5 years and 2.5 years respectively. Amusingly (to outsiders) but certainly not to Scranton taxpayers, Scranton Pensions Increased as Much as 80 Percent as a result of...

By Mike Shedlock

The Truth about “The Truth About Firefighter Retirement Benefits”

On its website the Marin Professional Firefighters Association has a page called, “The Truth About Firefighter Retirement Benefits.” The truth of their truth deserves scrutiny. “Firefighters do not receive social security.” This may or may not be true. The governor’s Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2012 (PEPRA) includes language specifically for those firemen who...

By David Brown

More Taxes and Tuition Buy Time for the Pension Bubble

“The ‘recovery’ is largely an illusion created by the effects of zero percent interest rates, quantitative easing, and deficit spending. The asset bubbles that have been created as a result of these policies have primarily benefited the owners of stocks, bonds, and real estate (the rich), while simultaneously deterring the savings and capital investment that...

By Edward Ring

Affordable Tuition vs. Gargantuan Pensions for Unionized Faculty

Californians have abysmally low levels of civic engagement as evidenced by the recent election where voter turnout set an historic low. And the widespread disengagement of California’s younger voters is even worse. True, in 2008 California’s youth turned out in large numbers to elect Barack Obama as President. And in 2012 they turned out again...

By Jon Coupal

California's $12.3 Billion in Proposed School Bonds: Borrowing vs. Reform

“As the result of California Courts refusing to uphold the language of the High Speed Rail bonds, the opponents of any bond proposal, at either the state or local level, need only point to High-Speed Rail to remind voters that promises in a voter approved bond proposal are meaningless and unenforceable.” – Jon Coupal, October...

By Edward Ring

The Misleading Arguments of Those Who Fight Against Pension Reform

Weakening pensions is a choice, not an imperative. The crisis is political, not actuarial. – Susan Greenbaum, guest editorial, Al Jazeera America, October 20, 2014 With this thesis highlighted, Greenbaum, a retired professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida, has just published a guest editorial that provides in one place a useful example...

By Edward Ring

2013 CalPERS Payouts Online at Transparent California

CalPERS financial struggles are draining state taxpayers. The ever-increasing contribution rates it demands from state and local governments have already bankrupted several cities. Even for more financially stable agencies, increased CalPERS contributions have crowded out other spending priorities or tax relief. While discussions about unfunded liabilities and projected rates of return are necessary and important,...

By Mark Bucher

Los Angeles Police Average Total Compensation $157,151 Per Year

Turns out the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension system return rate was 17.3 percent for 2013-2014, and other public pension funds reported similar double-digit returns and five-year returns exceeding their assumed rates. – LAPPL Board of Directors on 08/07/2014, in their post “Misuse of statistics behind erroneous LA police officer salary claims.” The above quote...

By Edward Ring

How Much Do Los Angeles Police Officers Make?

There’s a deep seated frustration and anger among the rank and file due to their low pay. Det. Tyler Izen – President, Los Angeles Police Protective League, July 28, 2014, KTLA Channel 5 Low pay, of course, is relative. It’s very difficult to objectively determine what a police officer should be paid. There aren’t jobs in...

By Edward Ring

Two Tales of a City – How Detroit Transcended Ideology to Reform Pensions

“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss.” – Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities Traveling through suburban Detroit, a sprawling city of 143 square miles whose population has dropped from nearly two million to less than 700,000, you can often imagine you are in rural Tennessee. Rutted narrow roads...

By Edward Ring

AVERAGE Orange County Pension 88% of Final Salary

Would you take a 12 percent pay cut in exchange for a 100 percent reduction in work? In Orange County, if you’ve worked 30 years – say from age 25 until age 55 – that is exactly what you can expect. And many OCERS retirees are receiving pensions in excess of their highest salary. For...

By Robert Fellner

Secret Sheriff Union Negotiations Endanger Orange County’s Financial Future

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has tentatively approved a transparency ordinance, known as COIN (for Civic Openness In Negotiations) that would require negotiations with government employee unions to be open to the public. Boy, do they need it. The current negotiations between the sheriffs’ union and the Orange County Board of Supervisors are a...

By Mark Bucher

The Financial Impact of Pension Obligations on Ventura County

“The rare problem of high pensions going to top public executives was solved last year by state legislation. Pensions will now be based on the salary cap for Social Security taxes: $117,000… The highly exaggerated “unfunded liability” problem is resolving as the stock market and tax revenues recover from the recession. The Ventura County Taxpayer Association’s...

By Edward Ring