Pensions Leading Another California City to Bankruptcy

[Valin]

The Feed:

12/31/13

 

Another one bites the dust? This time, the California city in question is Desert Hot Springs, a small community just outside the Los Angeles area, which is on the verge of bankruptcy due to over-promising on public sector salaries and pensions, and over-estimating its revenues to cover them.

 

Facing the prospect of running out of money in just a few months, the city was forced to take drastic action, slashing salaries and benefits for city employees. Sadly, even this may not be enough, because pensions, which are still untouchable by California law, account for the lions share of the citys problems. The NYT reports:

 

In Desert Hot Springs, for example, for every dollar that the city pays its police officers, another 36 cents must be sent to Calpers to fund their pensions.

 

The average pay and benefits package for a police officer here had been worth $177,203 per year, in a city where the median household income was $31,356 in 2011, according to the Census Bureau. All of this had gone largely unnoticed until becoming the center of debate during the recent municipal election.

(Snip)

[clearvision]

I was at our city council meeting awhile back and they covered budget stuff, including the city contributions to the employees 401K plans. No pensions here.