SANTA CRUZ, Calif.- In a Center for Investigative Action follow up file, cities across the Central Coast are listening to the Governor's plan with open ears. But say, they've already implemented a lot of the reforms.
"Employers would like to have more consistency across the board," said Santa Cruz city manager Martin bernal, and like most cities on the Central Coast, Santa Cruz is over a year in to their employee pension changes.
But Bernal said that reform was done within the parameters of CALPERS, The CA Public Employee Retirement System, which Bernal thinks could use some updatiing.
"There are only certain plans offered by Pers but there are options...Those options had been unaffordable to communities...I think offering a variety of plans that are more affordable may be a good thing."
Whether each city's employee pensions should look exactly like Governor Jerry Brown's proposal for state employees, that's another story.
"I don't know if our numbers are going to match precisely what theyre proposing," said Bernal.
And cities like Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Salinas, and Monterey already negotiated a lot of the changes, and say it wouldn't be fair to ask employees to do it again.
Most have increased the age of retirment for public safety and civil employees. They changed the formula for pensions from a percentage of the single highest salary to three year salary average. And employees now pay more of the city's share into benefits. All parts of Brown's plan.
Although Bernal believes there should be some consistency in the pension structure for all cities, he doesn't think the numbers should all match.
"Exactly what's the right plan for that city I don't know if there has been a consensus on that."
Carmel is set to approve their pension reforms next Tuesday at the city council meeting.
