Making the County's pension system sustainable

By Dan Hamburg

The retirement system is the county's "ball and chain" and we will likely continue to drag it along for decades into the future (i.e., UAAL = $130 million).

I am horrified by the generosity of some of the pensions paid to retirees. On the other hand, the average pensioner from Mendocino County employment earns a very modest monthly amount. It is only when compared to the hollowing out of the private pension system in the US (with taxpayers, through the PBGF, holding the bag for billions of dollars of corporate malfeasance) that the public pension system seems, in totality, excessive.

As it turns out, past retirements boards were wrong to have used "excess earnings" to pay for retiree health care. But on the other hand, it wasn't the worse crime of the last decade. That crime was brought to us courtesy of Wall Street and we continue to pay the price.

I do not believe that accrued sick leave and vacation benefits should be "pensionable". These benefits are instituted for other purposes and should not become part of pensionable compensation.