Rules Committee pauses charter change to let city, airport and FAA counsel clarify retirement funding for airport police

The Rules Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors paused action on a charter amendment that would let a small group of former airport police officers elect to transfer service credit from the California Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) into the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (SFERS).

Supervisor McGoldrick, sponsor of the measure, told the committee the amendment would allow officers who worked at the airport prior to 12/27/1997 to have all of their service computed under SFERS’ 3% at 55 formula. He described the change as "a very fair ... it's about time to do it," and estimated the affected population at roughly "27, 28 or so employees."

Committee members focused on two practical legal issues: where payments for the change would come from and whether using airport enterprise funds would violate Federal Aviation Administration constraints on revenue diversion. The City Attorney’s Office read a second draft that would explicitly exempt the contract from the charter section’s cost-neutrality requirement, a change the City Attorney said is the sole amendment in the second draft. Anne O'Leary of the City Attorney's Office told the committee the amendment on Page 2 "would exempt this contract from the cost neutrality requirements of this section."

John Tennant, general counsel for the San Francisco Police Officers Association, urged the committee that an earlier, similar benefit increase had been implemented without FAA violations and said he was in consultation with airport general counsel. "I am still in consultation with the general counsel," Tennant said, and asked the committee to allow time for counsel to resolve legal questions. Airport counsel and city staff noted that a 2003 airport audit and the resulting agreement with the FAA produced new rules about payments between the airport enterprise and the general fund, and that it was unclear whether the current amendment could be funded from airport monies without running afoul of those rules. Rob Meyers, identified as the airport general counsel, summarized that "there have been new rules that have been agreed upon between the city, the airport, and the FAA with respect to how payments will be made by the airport to the general fund or to the city."

To preserve options, Supervisor Sean Ellsbourne moved to "divide the file and accept the amendment on file A and leave file B as is, and then continue both the amended A and the existing B to July 5." The committee accepted that approach and continued both versions to the July 5 hearing so the retirement system and airport counsel can compare language and counsel can clarify whether enterprise funds may be used.

No formal vote was taken on the merits of the charter amendment today. The committee concluded the item after adopting the process to consider both versions at the next hearing.