Dropping CalPERS

A person I admire once told me this fable – Pay someone $100 an hour to do a job, but every week you turn up (or down) the thermostat. After two years the workers would not work for any pay under those conditions. Some people would take jobs in their hometown that offer the same 401ks and pensions they have in the private sector just to not commute. Hey, P.G. may not offer the pay and benefits of Oakland, but at least it aint Oakland.

Dropping out of CalPERS also would make it hard to attract or keep employees, according to a report that will be presented Wednesday to the City Council.

Given current economic conditions, if the city opts out of the state retirement system when employee contracts expire on Jan. 1, 2011, it would have to pay the state $8 million to $25 million or more, said Jim Becklenberg, the city’s director of management and budget.

Those costs, he said, would be in addition to the cost of setting up a replacement defined-contribution retirement plan to supplant the current defined-benefit plan based on years of service and other factors.

Dropping CalPERS