Posts Tagged: negotiated

Pension spiking’s ‘poster child’

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

by ED MENDEL posted 09.14.2015

A Moraga-Orinda fire chief drew national attention six years ago for retiring at age 50 with a pension much larger than his base pay. He went back to work as chief the following Monday, hired as a consultant with full salary. “People point to me as a poster child for pension spiking, but I did not negotiate these rules,” Peter Nowicki said.

Pensions key to Stockton bankruptcy

Waterfront, Stockton, Calif., at Weber Point. (Photo: Terrance Emerson)

by ED MENDEL posted 09.17.2014

Calpensions: During a hearing Oct. 1 on Stockton’s “plan of adjustment” to cut debt and emerge from bankruptcy, there may be a landmark ruling on whether CalPERS pension debt can be cut in bankruptcy.

The Vallejo city council last week voted to close a $5.2 million gap in the current budget, showing no alarm that in a five-year forecast the gap reopens, mainly driven by rising pension costs. Moody’s, a Wall Street credit rating agency, said earlier that Vallejo and two California cities currently in bankruptcy, Stockton and San Bernardino, risk returning to insolvency without pension relief.