Mayor ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA proposes More Civilian Pension Reform

In his Plan dated April 20, 2012
he discusses the ” excellent post-employment benefits” the employees and their beneficiaries enjoy, then proceeds to eliminate or reduce every single one of them. Pointing the finger at the rising cost of pension and retiree healthcare benefits and claiming they are the key component in the City’s structural budget deficit.

Projections, Projections, and Then Reality

By Fiscal Year 2014-15, the Mayors office and CAO project “the City could be contributing nearly 30 cents towards retirement benefits for every dollar it spends on salaries for civilian employees. While that sounds outrageous to the ”Private industry” that is far lower then the Current 29.5 percent the Private industry paid this year according to the United States of America Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Compensation and Working Conditions. The United States Government Bureau of Labor Statistics are a part of the U.S. Department of Labor the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers.

While some progress has been made, it remains clear that further pension reform efforts are necessary and must be pursued. However, the options for reducing costs associated with active or retired employees are extremely limited as the benefits received by these employees are vested under the California State Constitution. One of the only measures left to reduce future retirement costs is the implementation of a new tier of retirement benefits for new civilian employees.”
- ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA