California voters have approved an unprecedented number of ballot measures to modify public employee benefits. Nearly all the measures have sought to modify employee benefits packages or make changes to membership criteria for new employees entering the system.
Some of the municipalities that have recently passed ballot measures include:
City of Pacific Grove: Voted to cap on employer contributions at 10 percent of pay.
City of Menlo Park: Voted to limit retirement benefits for city employees (excluding public safety). Ordinance also restricts City Council from improving benefits package without voter approval.
City of Bakersfield:
- Reduced formula from 3
percent at age 50 to 2 percent at age 50. - Requires new hires to pay
into the plan – currently employee contributions are set at 9 percent
of pay, but the city picks them up after five years. - Use final three years of
salary to calculate benefit instead of just the final year.
These three cities represent a small portion of the recent initiatives taken by California local governments to address public employee pension issues. For more information:
CaliforniaCityFinance.com has a full list of local government measures related to public employee benefits.
And visit the Center’s pension reforms map for pension reforms enacted throughout the country.
