California Cities Adopt Pension Reforms While Brown Negotiates
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With little public comment and about 15 people in attendance, the City Council of Brea, California, voted unanimously last month to slash pensions for future hires and require current employees to pay as much as 4.5 percent of their salary toward retirement, up from zero.
The city of 40,000, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, had negotiated the changes with its unions, so there wasn’t any objection from them. By next year, according to a city report, employees will be contributing $1 million more annually to their pension benefits.