Californians want public pension benefits to be restricted, said a Bloomberg report.
According to a state-wide survey by Field Research Corp. and the University of California, Berkeley, 73% of those polled favour a cap on the amount of salary used to calculate pension benefits for public employees. While 20% directly opposed it another 42% said the pensions are “too generous,” up from 32% two years ago.
The report quoted Mark DiCamillo and Mervin Field of San Francisco-based Field Research as saying “California voters have changed their views in recent years about the pension benefits of state and government workers.”
Public pensions have become a contentious issue across the U.S. in the wake of the recent recession, the longest since the 1930s, which pushed the cost of benefits higher and drove government revenue down.
San Francisco’s annual pension costs are estimated to reach $1 billion in five years, exceeding expenditure on police, fire and other public-safety departments, said a recent report by San Franciscans for Pension Reform.
The following changes to public pension also got overwhelming support:
- require higher worker contributions;
- increase the minimum retirement age; and
- add elements of a 401(k)-style plan that would reduce guaranteed payments.