Mayor Sanders Asks Council to Put New Pension Plan on Ballot

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 29, 2008 at 5:54 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders reveals the reformed pension plan he will ask the city council to put on the November ballot. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders revealed the reformed pension plan he will ask the city council to put on the November ballot. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

According to the mayor, his proposed reform to a hybrid pension plan for future non public safety city employees would save the city 25 million dollars a year.

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Sanders: Of all the issues in city government that I have reformed, I believe this to be the most important, the current pension system is simply not sustainable over the long term for future employees.

Sanders' plan would set a precedent by moving away from guaranteed benefits to benefits dependent on investment returns.

The mayor will take the proposal to the council next month, but in the mean time he will continue to negotiate.

Labor leaders say they are willing to negotiate, but the pension offers on the table are too low, leaving some long time blue collar workers to retire on less than $20,000 a year.

If no compromise is reached, city council will meet in early July to consider putting the matter to the voters.

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Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.