Politics

San Diego City Debates How To Cover Investment Losses To Pension Fund

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published March 8, 2010 at 2:58 PM PST

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

San Diego city is at odds with its pension board over who is responsible for covering hundreds of million of dollars in investment losses to its pension fund.

The city’s annual contribution to its pension fund this year will be close to $250 million, up almost 100 million from last year. That’s because of investment losses.

Investment losses may be even steeper this year. In fact the retirement fund has already lost $800 million this year. That could mean the city ends up paying a third of its General Fund in 2011, just to cover its pension obligations.

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Council members raised the question of whether the city is responsible for covering those investment losses, or whether city employees should share the burden with their pension contributions.

The city’s pension board argues the city charter says the city i.e. the taxpayers, should cover the unfunded liability. But city attorney Jan Goldsmith argued that it is not the pension board’s job to interpret the charter.

Goldsmith says there is room to negotiate bigger employee contributions with the city’s labor unions.

City council members generally support Goldsmith’s arguments, and urged the parties to try to reach an agreement.

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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.