REMINDER: Just 4 More Days to Submit the 2019 City Pension Survey
Sep 22, 2019
Addressing pension sustainability challenges faced by cities remains a top strategic goal for the League of California Cities. The League supports and continues to advocate for secure defined benefit pension plans and the reforms that will allow them to flourish through the next century of public service.
The League’s 2019 Pension Survey must be completed by Sept. 27. The survey invitation and required password was emailed to city managers by their League regional public affairs manager. Member cities can also request the password directly by emailing Nick Romo, senior fiscal and policy analyst at nromo@cacities.org.
The 2019 survey is consistent with the League’s Strategic Goal to Promote Sustainability of Public Pension and Retirement Health Benefits, and will continue advancing public awareness of the impacts that rising pension obligations, compounded by recent changes in CalPERS policy and below target market returns, have on cities now and in the future.
In response to member feedback, the survey is shorter and easier to complete than the 2017 version (15 - 20 minutes with the appropriate documents on hand). To complete the survey, input from City Managers, Assistant City Managers, Finance Directors and/or Human Resources Directors may be needed for some questions.
Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents can be found on the League CalPERS Information Center webpage.
For any additional survey questions email Nick Romo.
Survey Information Will Be Included in 2019 League Retirement System Sustainability Study
The League has again retained the services of Bartel Associates, LLC a leading California actuarial firm serving public sector agencies, to update the information contained in the 2018 League of California Cities Retirement System Sustainability Study, based on the most recent CalPERS actuarial data from 2019. The 2018 Pension Study provided strong evidence to the public and state policy makers that pension costs for cities are approaching unsustainable levels. Specifically, the 2018 study revealed that:
Additional Pension-Related Information
The League’s 2019 Pension Survey must be completed by Sept. 27. The survey invitation and required password was emailed to city managers by their League regional public affairs manager. Member cities can also request the password directly by emailing Nick Romo, senior fiscal and policy analyst at nromo@cacities.org.
The 2019 survey is consistent with the League’s Strategic Goal to Promote Sustainability of Public Pension and Retirement Health Benefits, and will continue advancing public awareness of the impacts that rising pension obligations, compounded by recent changes in CalPERS policy and below target market returns, have on cities now and in the future.
In response to member feedback, the survey is shorter and easier to complete than the 2017 version (15 - 20 minutes with the appropriate documents on hand). To complete the survey, input from City Managers, Assistant City Managers, Finance Directors and/or Human Resources Directors may be needed for some questions.
Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents can be found on the League CalPERS Information Center webpage.
For any additional survey questions email Nick Romo.
Survey Information Will Be Included in 2019 League Retirement System Sustainability Study
The League has again retained the services of Bartel Associates, LLC a leading California actuarial firm serving public sector agencies, to update the information contained in the 2018 League of California Cities Retirement System Sustainability Study, based on the most recent CalPERS actuarial data from 2019. The 2018 Pension Study provided strong evidence to the public and state policy makers that pension costs for cities are approaching unsustainable levels. Specifically, the 2018 study revealed that:
- Rising pension costs will require cities over the next seven years to nearly double the percentage of their General Fund dollars they pay to CalPERS;
- For many cities, pension costs will dramatically increase to unsustainable levels; and
- Increasing pension costs as a percentage of General Fund spending will affect cities even more than the state.
Additional Pension-Related Information