Gov. Brown’s pension reform doesn’t do the job.
While it may chop $60 billion from California’s unfunded pension liabiity — and that sounds like real money — the savings may only amount to 20 percent of the debt, the SacBee’s Dan Walters says.
As for the other provisions, they don’t do much either.
These half-baked reforms leave cities such as Stockton in a bad place. The city can’t afford to pay current pension levels. But it can’t afford not to, as the police exodus shows.
If pensions are reformed statewide, the city will find its fiscal health improved and employee retention easier. If this is the best the state can do, pensions will eat up too much of the budget for years to come. And the attendant cuts elsewhere and understaffing will make the door look tempting to employees.
