Politics & Government

Orange County Elected Officials May Soon Pay for Own Pensions

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will discuss a proposal to place a measure on the June ballot to require all Orange County elected officials to pay the full cost of their retirement plans at its Nov. 5 meeting.

A proposal to place a measure on the June ballot to require all Orange County elected officials to pay the full cost of their retirement plans is set to be discussed at the Nov. 5 Board of Supervisors meeting.

"I ran on a platform promising to mandate employee contributions, making government (officials) pay their pension contribution costs," said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who joined Supervisor Janet Nguyen in making the proposal.

"As elected officials, we must lead by example, so in May, we voted to require that county elected officials pay their full employee retirement contributions. This charter amendment ensures that vote can never be reversed without the consent of the people."

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Said Nguyen: "We have asked county workers to pay their employee contributions for their retirement, and we need to do the same as supervisors. We can impose this requirement on ourselves, and we should do so as quickly as possible."

The county board of supervisors will consider both proposals at a Nov. 5 meeting.

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Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach said he is paying the full cost of his pension.

"I'm going to be giving up $16,000 a year in withholding for my pension," Moorlach said.

Moorlach has consistently sounded the alarms about underfunded pensions.

"I don't think it's sustainable," Moorlach said.

Spitzer said he did not know how much it would cost him. He noted that Moorlach is covered under a plan that pays 2.7 percent at 55 years old, while he and Nguyen are covered under a plan at 1.6 percent at 62.

"So he gets more and has to pay more," Spitzer said.  

—City News Service 


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