Commentary: Public pension costs hitting home - hard
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2019/11/commentary-public-pension-costs-hitting.html
By Dan Walters | CalMatters Columnist |
Stanislaus
Consolidated Fire Protection District came into being 14 years ago when four
small fire departments serving farms and small towns east of Modesto merged.
The
district now flirts with insolvency, a case study in how rapidly growing costs
for pensions and other employee benefits are clobbering local governments.
Four years
ago, Stanislaus Consolidated had 80 employees, most of them firefighters, and more
than $13 million in revenues. However, as budget documents reveal, its
expenses, mostly for salaries, were already beginning to outstrip income.
The
district’s operational shortfall in 2015-16 was
exacerbated by a new expense item, an extra $330,858 bite by the California
Public Employees Retirement System, which is anxiously trying to offset its
$100 billion in investment losses during the Great Recession and prevent its
enormous “unfunded actuarial liability” (UAL) from growing.
Cities and
fire districts throughout the state are being hammered particularly hard by
CalPERS’ extra levies for UAL because their “public safety” employees — police
officers and firefighters — have California’s most generous pension benefits
and therefore its highest employer costs.
Even with
the extra CalPERS charge in 2015-16, Stanislaus Consolidated’s retirement costs
were not overwhelming, about 32% of wages and salaries for the district’s
employees. But the UAL squeeze was about to get tighter.
It jumped
to $397,981 the next year and $517,834 in 2017-18. The agency’s 2019-20
budget sets aside $842,404 for UAL, contributing to a financial
freefall.
The
district’s persistent operating deficits caused the small community of Oakdale,
located just outside its boundaries, to cancel fire protection contracts worth
$3.5 million a year to the district. Oakdale is now served by Modesto’s fire
department.
With the
loss of revenue from Oakdale, the district was compelled to slash operations,
shrinking its staff to just 59. But its retirement costs continued to swell,
reaching 46% of payroll this year.
Late last
month, the fire district’s chief, Michael Whorton, announced the closure of one
fire station, citing a $925,000 operational deficit in the current budget — a
number not much higher than the budget’s $842,404 UAL payment.
“We are
definitely going to open it back up,” Whorton told the
Modesto Bee. “We just have to close it right now because of finances and we
will open it again as soon as we can.” However, he could not say when, and if,
Station 23 will be reopened.
Residents
served by Station 23 are nervous about the cut, the Modesto Bee reported. “That
leaves us very vulnerable,” Barbara Heckendorf said. “I don’t know where (the
firefighters) are going to be coming from.”
“It’s not
something that we want to do,” Whorton said, “but we have to be financially
responsible for the department. We just need to get our finances in line.”
That won’t
be easy. CalPERS has told
the district that its mandatory UAL payment will top $1 million within
two years.
Throughout
California, local officials have complained loudly about the ever-rising
CalPERS assessments, saying they’ll have no choice but to cut services unless
local voters are willing to raise taxes.
CalPERS
officials, on the other hand, contend that they also have no choice because
their investments haven’t fully recovered from the last recession and they must
improve their balance sheet to cope with the next downturn.
Meanwhile,
CalPERS investment returns continue to fall below expectations, thus widening
the gap between its assets and what it needs to cover pension promises.
In rural
Stanislaus County, where wildfire is always a threat, it means having fewer
fire trucks and fewer firefighters to respond when it hits.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture
committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it
matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary
Elk Grove News is a media partner of CalMatters.
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