San Francisco Pension Reform: A Tale of Two Proposals

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/12/2011 - 2:36pm

Mayor Lee	Jeff Adachi
Cap pensions at $195,000	Cap pensions at $140,000
Raise retirement age for new hires	Raise retirement age for public safety employees from 55 to 57 and 62 to 65 for all others
Eliminate pension spiking	Eliminate pension spiking
Fixed yearly employee contribution rate to pensions and benefits depending on economic conditions	Income-based employee contribution rate to pensions and benefits depending on economic conditions City employees required to pay at least 7.5% and public safety officers to pay at least 10% of their salaries towards pension funds. Lowest earners would pay no more than 7.5% and the highest can pay as much as 15%
Reduce benefits for new workers	Reduce benefits for new workers

Both proposals are being criticized for not including any new revenue sources and for making the workers bear the burden of a recession driven by Wall Street by slashing their wages and reducing their purchasing power. What is certain is that fiscal sacrifices are necessary and a compromise must be reached soon in order to stop the rampant draining of the social safety net/government services which in the long run, becomes a much deeper attack on the working class.