LOS ANGELES : Challenge to County Pension Hikes Rejected
A Superior Court judge Monday rejected a bid by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. to overturn controversial Los Angeles County public employee pension plan rules that will cost more than $265 million.
Siding with county lawyers, who asked for a ruling before the trial began, Judge David A. Workman found that even if the taxpayer group’s allegations of back-room dealings were true, there would be no remedy in the courts. Still, the judge gave the Jarvis group 30 days to amend its complaint and return to court.
Roger M. Whitby, senior assistant county counsel, had defended the county’s decision to include the value of health insurance and other benefits as compensation in calculating pension benefits. He added that county officials had the discretion to make the decision without a vote of the Board of Supervisors.
But Joel Fox, president of the taxpayers group, said the judge’s ruling means “that no one is responsible for the taxpayers’ money.”
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