Kern County Leads Lobby for Pension Reform

Ventura County and others across the state have been asked to join Kern County in lobbying for state legislation aimed at reshaping the public retirement system.

The legislation would toughen qualification standards for disability pensions and give counties more power to place employees in alternative jobs. It would also reduce the amount of benefits paid to former employees who get new jobs.

For example, if a worker earned $40,000 with the county and now makes $30,000 in a new job, then the county’s retirement system would only pay the difference--a $10,000 pension instead of the $20,000, or 50%, that is now required. If the worker’s salary in the new job is higher than the old job, the county would pay nothing.

Although they agree that major reforms are needed, Ventura County officials have reservations about supporting legislation that would limit benefits based on an injured worker’s new earnings.

“I think it would be a disincentive for people to work,” said Van Perris, manager of Ventura County’s retirement system. “It would also be an administrative nightmare.”

Instead, Perris said he favors adopting a policy that would give local retirement boards more power to decide the amount of pensions awarded in individual cases.

“The most important thing is to make sure that people don’t leave with a dime more than they are entitled to,” he said. “If a person is incapacitated for 1% of the jobs in the entire universe, then their retirement should be 1% [of their former salary], not 50%.”

Perris said he was recently nominated to serve on a committee being organized by the California Assn. of County Retirement Systems to look at the disability retirement system. The committee is expected to study problems in the system and propose some solutions.

But coming up with solutions is one thing, getting them implemented is another. In fact, Kern County has been working to change the system for years without success.

Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian (R-Carlsbad), chairman of the public employees’ pension committee, raised the issue of disability reform earlier this year in part because of Kern County’s efforts. But it never got out of the discussion stage and has since fallen to the wayside.

When contacted, Kaloogian refused to even discuss the subject.

“I’m not surprised,” said one Ventura County official, who asked not to be named. “He’s up against some pretty powerful lobbying organizations.” Those organizations include statewide employee unions as well as police and fire organizations.

But Ken Maffei, president of the Ventura County Fire Fighters Assn., said he is not opposed to reforms of the retirement system.

“This job is hard on your body,” said Maffei, who has had four surgeries on his right knee over the years from job-related accidents. “But people are not necessarily honest about [injuries] either.”

Patricia Randolph, deputy counsel for Kern County, said that the spiraling cost of the disability retirement system cannot be ignored.

“The question is not whether employees are entitled to these benefits,” Randolph said. “The question is whether these benefits are affordable anymore.”