Shifting his focus to the city of Los Angeles and his March 5 primary race for termed-out Jan Perry’s City Council seat, State Sen. Curren D. Price, Jr. (D-Culver City) used strong words yesterday to denounce former Mayor Richard Riordan's proposal to eliminate pension funds for incoming city employees, including police and fire personnel.
Mr. Riordan, a multi-millionaire, is spending extraordinary sums gathering signatures to qualify the initiative for the May 21 ballot.
Under the proposal, existing workers would have to increase their contribution to pensions from the current 11 percent to 14 percent. Dept. of Water and Power workers would go from 6 percent to 11 percent. All new workers would be covered by a 401(k) system, but legal requirements prevent existing workers from being switched over to the new system.
If passed, Mr. Price said, it would create a fourth city retirement system that is quasi-private, requiring the city to pay huge fees to Wall Street money managers and new Social Security taxes.
“Riordan, who is worth millions, wants to play Russian Roulette with the working class's retirement security,” said Mr. Price, who is expected to face more than a dozen rivals in the preliminary round for the 9th District Council seat.
“This proposal is false reform. It will exacerbate the city’s fiscal challenges by exploding costs with new bureaucracy, and it threatens to defund the city's existing systems.”
Mr. Price called Mr. Riordan's pension proposal “a tool for millionaire and billionaire investors to get rich off of the retirement savings of working people.
“City government employees have already sacrificed as the economy soured,” the senator said. “Further pension reforms must include all parties at the negotiation table, especially employees.”
This “reform recklessness” would impact more than 30,000 current city employees, 18,000 retirees, and all future city employees, Mr. Price said.
“Los Angeles will not stand for anything as regressive and fiscally irresponsible as Riordan's plan,” said Price. “Anyone who stands with Mr. Riordan for his pension plan is standing against working men and women.”
Ms. Alim, a member of Sen. Price’s staff, may be contacted at fahizah.alim@sen.ca.gov
