After a year of spinning his wheels on pension reform, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa invited business leaders and policy makers to give a presentation on pension reform. They’re talking about going to the ballot.
The past year hasn’t been entirely stagnant for pension in Los Angeles. Mayor Villaraigosa was able to establish a new, two-tier pension system for the city’s police and fire departments. However, the civilian pensions have been resistant to change.
The business leaders who assembled for the presentation said that should pension reform continue to languish, they will put a ballot initiative forward for March 2013. That initiative would increase retirement ages and employee contributions, while capping city contributions and making future pension increases more difficult to approve.
From the Los Angeles Daily News:
Warning that Los Angeles could face bankruptcy like other cities, former Mayor Richard Riordan and local business leaders told city officials Wednesday they are prepared to ask voters to reform the public pension system if the City Council fails to act.
Riordan and representatives of the business community met with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council leaders behind closed doors early Wednesday to press the need for change.
Read the full article here.