Orange County’s voters can give themselves power over public pension increases
Posted by emilyknell on October 31, 2008
Enviable Measure J Long Beach Press Telegram Article Launched: 10/15/2008 09:49:01 PM PDT
Orange County voters have an enviable opportunity on the ballots Nov. 4 called Measure J. At only 24 words, it is the briefest of the many propositions, and there are no ballot arguments against it. How could there be? This proposition simply says that future increases in retirement benefits for county employees and county officials will have to be approved by voters. Who would possibly disagree? We know who, of course, but they aren’t about to come out against Measure J publicly. That’s because the only reason to oppose it is because it’s a whole lot easier to buy off elected officials in exchange for pension spiffs than to persuade voters. That’s how public-employee pensions in Orange County, as elsewhere, got pumped up to as high as 90 percent of salary after only 30 years of service. Can you imagine voters ever approving a plan like that?
It’s a pity that Measure J comes along after the lavish taxpayer-financed pensions already are in place, and by law can’t be undone. But it establishes a principle, and at the very least there won’t be any more pensions’ spiffs in Orange County unless voters want them. It’s a pity also that voters in L.A. County and elsewhere don’t have a similar opportunity. Taxpayers gradually are becoming more aware that public-employee pensions and retiree health benefits are a huge financial liability. Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach co-authored the ballot argument in favor of Measure J and for all practical purposes is the author of the measure itself. He points out that Orange County’s pension and retiree health liabilities are $3 billion, and the county’s pension plan is only 73 percent funded. As he says, this is a debt owed by all county taxpayers.
The same burden weighs on other cities and counties and the state as well. A few places, like Long Beach, are better funded than Orange County, but there is only one real exception, which is San Francisco. And that is because in San Francisco, voters have the right to approve or reject all pension increases. It is late in coming, but Orange County voters deserve to have that right, too. On Nov. 4, they can give it to themselves by approving Measure J. Voters everywhere should be so lucky.
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So there is a link between the OC measures “J” & “U”! Vote YES on both! We in Rossmoor do not have a quarrel with the Orange County Sheriff or the Deputy Sheriffs’. As the 35th newest Orange County ‘Contract City’, through the contract bid process, our new Councilman will very likely look with favor toward the 50+ years relationship we’ve established with the OC Sheriffs and likely contract for the RCSD’s planned-for-expanded policing services.
A YES on Measure “U” is a ‘win win’ for a Rossmoor City, the OC Deputy Sheriffs, & the B of S of Orange County. Please remove your biased NO lawn signs; read our campaign literature; see the DVD; and, rejoin the YES on “U”.
