Public Employees Salaries DATABASE, California Pensions-City of Carmel-by-the-Sea

ABSTRACT: $2,235,167.87 represents the 2011 Gross Pension total for 73 former city employees (Source: California Pensions Public Employees Salaries Database, San Jose Mercury News). Note: Currently, the City employs 71.69 Full time Equivalent employees. TABLE I California Pensions-City of Carmel-by-the-Sea is embedded. For context, Actual Operating Budget Fiscal Year 2010-11 was $12,617,261 and Estimated Operating Budget Fiscal year 2011-12 was $13,385,611, City employees’ salaries and benefits amounted to $7,823,846 (62% of FY 2010-11 Operating Budget) and outsourced “Professional Services,” “Contractual Services,” “Outside Labor” and Subsidies exceeded $3.2 million in Fiscal Year 2010-11. Links to Infographic: 20 Reasons to Fix Pensions and California Public Sector Retirement Programs and Compensation A financial analysis prepared for The California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, Capitol Matrix Consulting, July, 2011, including excerpts from the Executive Summary, are provided in the ADDENDUM.

CBTS Pensions

TABLE I California Pensions-City of Carmel-by-the-Sea

ADDENDUM:
Infographic: 20 Reasons to Fix Pensions

California Public Sector Retirement Programs and Compensation A financial analysis prepared for The California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility
Capitol Matrix Consulting
July, 2011

Executive Summary Excerpt 

CFFR Alternatives 

This report estimates the impact that two CFFR reform proposals would have on benefits received and on taxpayer costs.

The first reform, Alternative A, provides that current employee pension contributions must immediately increase as necessary to cover one-half of the expected cost of additional accruals. It also provides that future hires are to be covered by a retirement income program that is no more generous than a modified version of the pension and thrift savings plans that currently apply to federal employees; the modifications are a wage cap under the pension component (with an additional employer contribution for pay in excess of the cap under the thrift plan), and a requirement that employees pay at least one-half of the expected cost of future pension accruals.

Retiree healthcare benefits for future hires are to be no more generous than per the program currently applicable to state employees, modified to include significantly reduced employer subsidies. Finally, Alternative A would prospectively apply the full restrictions applicable to future hires to current employees upon declaration of a Fiscal Emergency by the relevant governmental entity. We modeled Alternative A by assuming that the most generous permitted provisions would apply. For a scenario where the reform would apply to current employees, we assumed that the Fiscal Emergency would be effective in early 2013.

The second proposal, Alternative B, limits employer contributions to cover the cost of pension or defined contribution benefits earned by current or future employees for service after June 2012 to 6 percent of payroll (9 percent for safety classifications). We modeled implementation of this in terms of a dollar-for-dollar matching arrangement within a defined contribution plan. This reform does not address retiree healthcare benefits.

Both Alternatives provide for additional Social Security replacement benefits on a pension basis for employees not covered by that federal program.