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Supervisors debate pension amendments; Marr offers 24‑month averaging and '7% for 7.5%' swap, committee schedules further review
Summary
Supervisor Ellsberg proposed charter amendments aimed at reducing employer retirement costs; unions and the actuarial consultant negotiated on details. Supervisor Marr proposed amendments (24‑month averaging and a pay swap to offset a 7.5% employee contribution) but budget staff cautioned the swap could increase employer costs; committee continued work and forwarded an untouched item 4 to the full board while continuing item 5.
Supervisor Ellsberg presented two charter amendments to address rising employer pension contributions and to fund retiree health care, describing scenarios that could raise employer contributions by hundreds of millions over coming years and calling for structural changes to protect city services.
Public testimony spanned unions, labor council representatives, actuaries and municipal staff. Labor leaders said they had reached agreement on most issues except for the averaging period for final compensation; they proposed a two‑year averaging alternative and sought a guarantee that if employees pay a higher contribution they receive a wage offset (often summarized as "7% for 7.5%" in committee discussion).
Rebecca Ryan, actuarial consultant, explained different savings scenarios depending on wage‑growth assumptions and averaging period: conservative and aggressive assumptions produced divergent long‑term savings estimates. Supervisor Marr offered amendments to define final compensation as the higher of any 24 consecutive months or the two years prior to retirement (instead of three) and to add a provision tying a 7% pay increase to a 7.5% employee contribution to address equity concerns for lower‑paid workers. Budget staff warned the latter swap would increase employer costs (~$8M/year). Given time and form‑and‑legal review needs, the committee agreed to forward item 4 to the full board as a committee report and to continue item 5 to the call of the chair for further refinement and modeling.
