If you don’t give city employees a pension, what happens?
If you don’t give city employees a pension, what happens?
San Diegans voted five years ago this month to switch all new city hires, except police, from pensions to 401(k)-style individual investment plans, becoming one of the first big cities to take the plunge. Jacksonville, Fla., took a bigger step last April, switching all new employees including police and firefighters to 401(k)-style plans. Last week,...
By Ed Mendel
Court Pension Decision Weakens ‘California Rule’
Court Pension Decision Weakens ‘California Rule’
The one thing some pension reformers say is needed to cut the cost of unaffordable public pensions: give current workers a less costly retirement benefit for work done in the future, while protecting pension amounts already earned. It’s allowed in the remaining private-sector pensions. But California is one of about a dozen states that have...
By Ed Mendel
California Pensions Take Above-Average Tax Bite
California Pensions Take Above-Average Tax Bite
California pension funds take a bigger share of tax revenue than the national state average, a research website shows. Why the growing costs are outpacing the norm is not completely clear. A prime suspect for some would be overly generous pensions, particularly what critics say is an “unsustainable” increase for police and firefighters widely adopted...
By Ed Mendel