Help the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association fight costly abuses of government pensions
San Diego County Employees Retirement Association refuses to comply
Pension costs are a rapidly increasing expense for both local and state governments. In San Diego, the Little Hoover Commission estimates government pension costs could reach 50% as soon as 2025. This means less resources for services that make San Diego a livable city and a tourist destination or new taxes on business owners who already struggle under a heavy tax and regulatory burden.
Abuses such as pension spiking, double dipping, unearned service credits and unwarranted reclassifications must be rectified if we are to curtail these spiraling costs and avert economically damaging cuts or tax increases.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has helped a pension reform watchdog file public records requests in counties around the state and CalSTRS, CalPERS and eight other counties have all complied. However, the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association (SDCERA) is appealing a court order that it disclose its pension payments.
If SDCERA prevails it will create a dangerous precedent allowing pension abuses to be kept secret and shielded from detection by watchdog groups. Allowing these abuses to continue and also grow in the knowledge that they are secret, exposes entrepreneurs to new taxes or service cuts both of which would harm the economy and cost jobs.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association would like to ask your small business to sign on to a friend of the court brief stating your opposition to SDCERA shielding of costly pension abuses from disclosure to the public. Your participation is free and helps good government advocates ensure transparency and accountability in the way your tax dollars are spent.
Please contact Eric Eisenhammer of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association at Eric@hjta.org if you are interested in getting involved or call him at 916 444 9950.