Oxnard HR director presents ordinance to remove enhanced disability retirement for future police hires

Steve Neveau, Oxnard human resources director, presented an ordinance to amend the city’s contract with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) that would eliminate an enhanced disability retirement benefit for future members of the Oxnard Peace Officers Association.

Neveau said the item would delete a provision that can provide up to a 90% tax‑free pension when an employee is approved for disability retirement and reduce the benefit for new hires to 50%, which he described as the standard in most CalPERS contracts. “The purpose of this item is to adopt an ordinance amending the city's contract with CalPERS, which will eliminate an enhanced disability retirement benefit for future employees,” Neveau said.

The change, Neveau said, applies only to newly hired employees in classifications represented by the Oxnard Peace Officers Association — which he said represents approximately 250 employees, including police officer, police corporal and police sergeant — and will not affect public safety dispatchers because dispatchers do not have a CalPERS safety retirement.

Neveau described a fiscal impact tied to contribution rates: he said the new employer rate would be 29.54% (noted as a reduction in the employer rate) and that the new employee contribution rate for those hires would be 14.75%, paid only by employees hired after the ordinance becomes effective. Current PEPRA employees and current “classic” CalPERS employees would continue to pay their existing shares, he said, citing employee rates of 16.5% for PEPRA employees and 5% for classic employees.

The presentation in the transcript records the proposal and fiscal figures but does not record a vote or final action on the ordinance. The transcript shows the item as a staff presentation explaining the amendment and its scope; it does not show a recorded motion or council decision in the excerpt provided.

The item is limited in scope to removing the enhanced disability provision for future hires in the represented classifications; Neveau said current employees under existing PEPRA or classic CalPERS arrangements would be unaffected.