Costly pensions under fire - The Daily Breeze

Costly pensions under fire - The Daily Breeze

As state and local governments fight potential bankruptcy, some officials are taking a new look at scaling back billions of dollars in pension benefits for public employees.
The effort could trigger a massive fight with the state's powerful public unions, who have managed to quash previous pension reform efforts.
"Pensions ... are going to be the next 800-pound gorilla that local governments will be facing along with the state," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who is pushing for the county to rein in pension costs.
Last week, Antonovich directed county Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka to prepare a report on how to address rising pension costs. Even as the county faces a massive budget shortfall, its contribution to its pension system is expected to increase from $804 million now to $1.27billion by 2012-13.
Similarly, Los Angeles city's contribution to its pension system is expected to double from $653 million now to $1.3 billion in four years. The city makes that contribution from its general fund, which already faces a deficit of almost $700 million over the next 16 months.
"The current system is not sustainable," Los Angeles City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said. "It's our pension costs that are in particular contributing to the deficit that we're facing.
"If our objective is to rein in our deficits, pension reforms have to be part of the long-term plan."