Rising salaries for California public-sector employees created big increases in average pension checks — with firefighters seeing benefits nearly triple since 1999, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The newspaper reviewed 14 years of CalPERS annual reports — from 1999 through 2012 — to analyze the impact of pension reform and pay raises on the checks received by beneficiaries.
Average first-month pension benefit checks received by California firefighters went from $1,770 in 1999 to $4,978 in 2012. California Highway Patrol officers saw checks increase from $3,633 in 1999 to $7,418 in 2012.
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Average first-month pension benefits for all new public-sector retirees increased nearly 100 percent to $3,025 in 2012.
The newspaper attributed the growth to salary increases that came during California's dotcom boom years and generous pension reforms during that time.
By starting with 1999 numbers, the Bee specifically included retirees benefiting from that year's Senate Bill 400, which allowed employers to retroactively increase pension formulas for retirees.
The timeframe is bookended by the Gov. Jerry Brown's pension reforms approved in 2012, which are expected to decrease public pension benefits in the long-term.
The 1999 pension reforms changed the benefit equation for many California public workers. For example, California Highway Patrol workers were previously allowed to retire at age 50 with 2 percent of their pay multiplied up to 30 years of employment. The new ruling allowed officers to retire at age 50 with 3 percent of their pay. The benefit was applied retroactively. Officers didn't retire earlier, according to the report, just with bigger checks.
Throughout the latest pension reform debate in California, CalPERS has relied on an average pension payment of $2,629 per month, according to the Bee vs. the $3,025 figure calculated by the newspaper.
Although California's recent pension rollbacks will mean lower checks, Pepperdine University government finance expert Michael Shires told the Bee it could be 15-20 years before budgets see relief from these laws.
"Even with the new pension formulas," Shires said, "budgets are going to be bitten by these numbers. This isn't going away soon."
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