HAYWARD — A total of 147 retired Hayward employees were paid at least $100,000 last year as part of their annual pension benefits, according to statewide figures compiled by a Nevada-based advocacy group.
More retired Hayward employees received $100,000-plus pensions in 2016 than those at several East Bay public agencies and cities, including Richmond, which had 141, and the Alameda County Fire Department, with 126, according to the analysis by Transparent California, an offshoot of the Nevada Policy Research Institute.
Only three East Bay cities and public agencies had more retired employees with pensions above $100,000 last year than Hayward. Oakland had 523, Berkeley 162 and Fremont 155.
The Transparent California analysis is based on pension data from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, commonly known as CalPERS, which invests pension contributions from public agencies and their employees and makes payments to employees once they retire. The Nevada Policy Research Institute is a free-market, limited-government think tank based in Las Vegas.
“It would be wrong and misleading to suggest annual pension payments by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to former city of Hayward employees are controlled by or paid by Hayward city government,” city spokesman Chuck Finnie wrote in an email.
“In point of fact, CalPERS pension payments are funded by the income CalPERS derives from investing contributions of employees of participating government agencies and contributions of their public sector employers,” he said.
The top earners among retired Hayward employees last year were: former fire Chief Craig Bueno ($210,254), who retired in 2012 after 28 years of service; former deputy fire chief Jon Moser ($210,039), who retired in 2015 after 29 years of service; and former fire battalion chief Mark Bennett ($188,888), who retired in 2013 after 30 years of service, according to the Transparent California data.
“Pensions and retiree health coverage are benefits that are earned by city workers and that are key to our ability to recruit and retain quality public servants in a competitive labor market,” Finnie wrote.
Statewide, 52,963 retirees collected pensions of at least $100,000 last year, according to the data.
“Californians will spend over $30 billion on pension costs in the coming year,” Transparent California research director Robert Fellner said in a statement.
Contact Darin Moriki at 510-293-2480 or follow him at Twitter.com/darinmoriki.