Supervisor Sean Elsbernd has recently introduced legislation that would reform city employees pensions. Please contact the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor's office to pledge your support for Supervisor Elsbernd's measure. It will be heard in the Rules Committee on Thursday, January 21st at City Hall, Room 263. If you can attend and testify in support of this reform legislation, please do. Otherwise, telephone calls and e-mails are urgently needed.
Please click here to read the proposal.
The measure requires:
- An increased employee contribution of 7.5% to 9.0% from newly hired safety employees;
- Pensions, for all new hires, will be based on the best 36 months of service, as opposed to the current 12 months;
- A prohibition against the City and employee groups from negotiating away the employee's mandated retirement contribution; and,
- A pre-funding requirement of our currently unfunded $4 billion retiree health care bill.
Next fiscal year, the City and County of San Francisco will contribute approximately $325 million into the pension fund. For the current fiscal year the number is approximately $240 million; last fiscal year, the City contributed $125 million. The City's actuararies project that in just four years, San Francisco may need to contribute approximately $650 million. These costs are only for the increase in pensions. They do not reflect the equally increasing health care costs.
Should the measure be approved, the retirement costs will come down, albeit by a small amount. That said, this is the first step in addressing this alarming issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment