Pension Reforms Could Save $200 Million

Strange as it sounds, Los Angeles may have a more convincing argument for pension overhaul than the state.

Certainly one of the advantages is bypassing the Assembly and Senate, but more specifically Los Angeles’ costs are understandably huge.

When was the last time you had any direct interaction with a billion dollars? A hundred billion? What about half a trillion?

Those aren’t numbers the average resident can comprehend. Instead, we see the number $200 million. It’s comprehensibly small, but appreciatively gigantic. Selling reform on this should be an easier task than the one that faces the state.

As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News:

[Supervisor Michael] Antonovich called for the report in June after the supervisors voted to boost annual taxpayer contributions to the system by $200 million to $987 million this year. Without reforms, retirement system officials warned that amount could reach up to $2 billion by 2015.

Any changes to pension formulas for current employees would have to be negotiated with the unions, who have generally been skeptical of any proposal that would lower their members’ benefits.

Read the full article here.