Public pension critics who say that the long-term debt is like a runaway train must have cringed when they saw that pensioners in the Marin County Employees Retirement Association are getting cost-of-living raises.
Those raises were already built into employee contracts and the pension board’s role was limited to ratifying the actuarial accounting on the cost — almost $3 million per year.
With public agencies — with taxpayers backing up the checks they write — on the hook for most of the cost, taxpayers rightfully question when that growing debt will be reversed. Rising pension costs have taken large bites out of money needed to pay for public services and improvements. They also are a factor in local measures to raise taxes.
Public agencies got into this politically sticky fiscal mess by raising salaries and bumping pension benefits, figuring that the double-digit investment returns they were enjoying would endure forever. State lawmakers made matters even worse by enhancing public pension benefits.
The recession proved the shortsightedness of this pattern. High investment returns disappeared and local budgets were tapped to cover the shortfall.
The pension board doesn’t set salaries or benefits. That’s the responsibility of the county, the city of San Rafael, the Novato and Southern Marin fire districts and several other smaller districts.
It’s clear the local pension board sees itself as a pass-through for higher payments. It’s not so clear that MCERA’s member agencies are doing enough to stop that train.
