HUNTINGTON BEACH : Grand Jury Committee Ends Probe of Spiking

A committee of the Orange County Grand Jury has finished an investigation in the practice of city employees inflating retirement pensions and will complete its report in two weeks, officials said.

“We have done our investigation and we’re preparing our response, and at this point, we have no intention of any further investigation,” said Seth Oberg, chairman of the grand jury’s Administrative Agencies Committee.

Oberg also said there are no plans at this time to pursue the matter for formal study to be included in the grand jury’s final report in June.

The investigation was prompted by a resident’s complaint.

The grand jury’s six-member committee met last Thursday with City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga and Deputy City Administrator Bob Franz.

Oberg said they have also contacted an official with the state Public Employees’ Retirement System to get its side.

The controversial practice known as pension spiking occurs when certain benefits are converted to increase final compensation, on which a pension is based. The city has reached agreement with employee unions, except for firefighters, that ended the practice Jan. 31.

Uberuaga said Monday that the grand jury inquiry was not unexpected since the issue in recent months has received so much public attention and outcry.

Bill Mello, director of the Citizens Bureau of Investigation, a group that has criticized pension spiking, said: “It’s about time there’s an investigation of this pension-spiking scandal because it’s costing taxpayers many millions of dollars since 1984.”