Editorial:
While the employees for the City of San Diego are the focus of the city’s reforms, with salary freezes, replacing pension plans with 401ks, and outsourcing city jobs, we continue to scratch our head and wonder when they are going to address the root of the problem – the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System.
It is the Pension Fund that has the city in debt to the tune of $2.1 billion dollars. It is the Pension Fund board that acts without impunity or accountability. It was the Pension Fund board that was manipulated by local unions and politicians in the first place, culminating with false financial statements, breaking federal securities laws and other statutes as they tried to conceal their failure to put enough money into the city’s pension fund for police, firefighters and other public employees.
Now, to top it off we read that the Pension Fund is giving out bonus checks to the tune of $5.2 million dollars. The sad part about all this is that neither the Mayor nor the city council can do anything about this. When does common sense kick in here?
While the City Council and the Mayor continue to focus on eliminating jobs and cutting benefits of the working man, with the expectation of police and fire employees who are being held out above all others, all other city employees careers’ are being threatened with down-sizing, loss of benefits, and even unemployment.
In the meantime the city’s pension fund board operates as if it is business as usual!
If there is ever going to be fiscal reform the City leaders have to tackle the thorny issue of the Pension Fund board and reign them in.