The California League of Cities is issuing a warning about rising pension costs, calling them unsustainable. In a new report, the League predicts public employee pensions will shoot up at least 50-percent by 2024 and consume about 16-percent of all general fund budgets, almost double what they do now.
The problem started almost 20-years when the legislature offered generous pension plans to compete with private sector promises of big stock-option paydays during the dot-com boom. The League is advising cities to attempt to pass local taxes to cover the cost increases and to negotiate with unions for reduced pension contributions.
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