The San Diego City Council officially approved the proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed against the city's retirement system, ushering in a schedule of taxpayer payments to the fund much higher than officials had planned. 
The City of San Diego -- like the county -- has struggled with underfunded liabilities to its beleaguered pension system. But even as city leaders move to fix the problems, they cannot guarantee the medicine will work. 
Though unsure when the city might be able to work with Wall Street again, San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy laid out a plan to ask financiers to alleviate some of the shortfall in the beleaguered pension fund. 
City workers appeared en masse Wednesday to oppose a recommendation by the Pension Reform Committee that voters have the opportunity to oust employee representatives from the pension fund's administrative board. 
We are definitely living in strange times. Power companies steal billions of dollars from California citizens by causing shortages of electricity and few people are prosecuted. Oil companies raise gas prices by huge margins with no verifiable basis and no one seems to do anything about it. And here in San Diego, no one is being held accountable for the massive city pension deficit. 
City pension officials are exploring the possibility of suing the lawyers who, in 2002, signed off on a proposal to continue underfunding the account and at the same time grant benefit increases. 
If misery loves company, this time there's plenty to share. It's not news that the city of San Diego faces pension problems. Nor is there comfort knowing that the county pension fund is in worse shape; and the state teacher's fund, as well. 
The San Diego City Council will hear the recommendations of its Pension Reform Committee June 20. The council's Rules, Finance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee will consider the retirement review group's proposed ballot measures on June 30. 
After enduring months of scathing criticism about the city's beleaguered pension system from County Supervisor Ron Roberts, San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy launched a counterattack against his main rival to re-election, saying Roberts needs to "clean up his own house." 
The board of administration of the city's beleaguered pension system Monday gave its final approval to the technical aspects of a settlement of a major lawsuit the fund is facing. 
The Pension Reform Committee on Tuesday supplemented some of its already controversial recommendations with a fiscal road map for how the city can pull itself out from under more than $1.167 billion in unfunded liabilities. 
Citing concerns about conflicts of interest that may have helped cause a crisis in the city's pension fund, the city's Pension Reform Committee voted Tuesday to ask that San Diego voters have the chance to oust union leaders, retirees and city employees from the retirement system's board of administration. 
As San Diego struggles with its under-funded pension system, The Daily Transcript will continue to provide comprehensive and timely coverage of the issue. Find the latest articles on San Diego's continuing pension saga.
|
|
|