San Diego's Public Pensions Better than Workers Pay

The San Diego Union Tribune reports:

With ominous vengeance, San Diego's pension crisis has returned.

To understand why, consider the case of Eugene Gordon, an assistant city attorney who recently retired. The highest base salary earned by Gordon was $152,792 a year. But his taxpayer-funded pension is at least $235,003 a year.

Take another look at those two figures. They are not a misprint. Gordon's city pension is 54 percent higher than his base salary ever was.

Nor is Gordon's imperial-style pension an anomaly. Most longtime employees of the city of San Diego can retire as early as age 60 with retirement checks that significantly exceed their highest-year salaries. Public safety workers can pull down the same oversized pensions at age 55.

Should taxpayers start thinking about limiting the compensation of government workers?