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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Sac City Unified suing over controversial pension plan - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sac City Unified suing over controversial pension plan - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sac City Unified suing over controversial pension plan

Ten years after creating a controversial pension plan for administrative employees, Sacramento City Unified is headed back to court to continue a legal battle over the plan.
A hearing has been set for Aug. 9 in Sacramento Superior Court.
The school district is suing the lawyers and a consultant who advised them during the creation of an alternative retirement plan called California Administrative Services Authority.
CASA's basic premise when it began in 2000 was to allow employees to sidestep payments to both Cal-PERS and Social Security by joining the new retirement plan. Doing so raised the take-home pay and boosted the retirement benefits of 101 district administrators and 14 Yolo County Office of Education workers who participated.
The district took Cal-PERS, CASA trustees and individual employees who participated in the plan to court in 2005 to dismantle CASA. That case is settled, but the payout is pending, said district spokesman Gabe Ross.
The district is waiting for the IRS to determine how the payout of CASA funds will be taxed, Ross said.
Sacramento City Unified paid CalPERS $4.1 million after the retirement group contended the system was illegal


UC Davis serves up 96th Picnic Day

The 96th annual Picnic Day today at the University of California, Davis, means a kaleidoscope of activity such as cockroach and dachshund races; kissing pit bulls; milking cows and goats; painting maggots; coopering wine barrels; and nitrogen-frozen ice cream.
Organizers expect 50,000 to 60,000 people to descend on the college campus beginning with a pancake breakfast at 7:30 a.m., followed by a parade starting at 10 a.m.
The free event was first held in 1909 for the school to showcase its new dairy barn. About 2,000 people attended, bringing along picnic lunches, and the event has evolved into a university open house in which departments open their doors to future students, alumni and community residents.
There have been only five years it was not held: 1924, 1928, and 1942-1944.
For more information on today's activities, go to www.picnicday.ucdavis.edu or call (530) 752-6320.

– Gina Kim

UC Davis cuts 4 of 27 athletic teams


UC Davis women's rower Brittani DeRemer prepares to carry a shell out to the water at the Port of Sacramento on Friday.
It was hard to tell who was more disappointed over the UC Davis announcement Friday morning that four athletic

Lawsuit seeks disclosure of details on Palin speech

An open-government group filed a lawsuit Friday to obtain records about Sarah Palin's upcoming speech at California State University, Stanislaus.
The lawsuit filed by Carmichael-based Californians Aware against Cal State Stanislaus asks for a court order requiring the university to disclose records it sought, including information about how much the former Alaska governor is being paid to appear at the school's 50th anniversary celebration in June.