Many ex-government workers in Vallejo area collect $100K pensions

The Reporter reports:

More than 100 retired government employees who worked for surrounding cities and Solano County -- nearly half of them from Vallejo -- are receiving annual pensions of $100,000 or greater.

The pensions, administered through the CalPERS retirement system, represent set annual contributions from employees and fluctuating contributions from municipalities. Once employees retire from their municipal jobs, the city no longer pays the workers' costs.

But generous employee benefit plans in vogue statewide only a few years ago, may soon catch up with government employers as the recession is reflected in their expected contributions, said CalPERS spokesman Edd Fong. Fong added that employer contributions are based on a once-a-year sampling of the market, taken each June 30.

Vallejo has at least 46 of 102 government retirees receiving pensions of at least $100,000, as of last May. That compared to Solano County with 22, and Fairfield, with 19, according to a searchable database produced by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility. Vacaville, Benicia and Dixon had nine, five and one retirees respectively, while Suisun and Rio Vista retirees did not break the $100,000 pension figure. The organization's database, at www.californiapensionreform.com/calpers, contains information from CalPERS via a Freedom of Information Act request.

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