Calabasas council introduces ordinance to allow two-year CalPERS service-credit retirement incentive

The Calabasas City Council on Jan. 14 unanimously introduced an ordinance to amend the city—ontract with the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to permit eligible employees to receive up to two years of additional service credit upon retirement.

Chief Financial Officer Roners told the council the amendment would be implemented in two formal steps: a resolution of intention and the ordinancefirst reading now on the table, followed by a second reading Feb. 11. "The amendment proposed is to allow for a two-year additional service creditthis service credit is to reduce the total full-time position count of the city of Calabasas by offering two years worth of time in CalPERS to eligible employees," Roners said.

Under the proposal, eligible employees would include classic members age 50 and above and PEPRA members age 52 and above who are vested with at least five years of service credit in CalPERS. Roners said the city will forward a list of eligible employees to CalPERS and expects about 26 employees out of roughly 78 positions could meet the eligibility criteria. "There are currently 26 employees that are eligible out of a total position of 78," he said.

Roners described key conditions: employees who accept the service credit must retire within a council-set window (staff suggested a window of 90 to 180 days) and must cease employment with the city and with any other CalPERS-covered agency or they will forfeit the credit. He also said CalPERS will provide an actuarial cost after the city submits the eligible list and that cost will be repaid by the city beginning in fiscal year 2028-29 over a five-year period. "Depending on the age of the employee, it can be anywhere from 50% of their annual salary to 65% of their annual salary," Roners said of the estimated actuarial cost; he added CalPERSwill provide exact figures after a formal calculation.

Council members asked about the number of "key" positions that might be affected and operational flexibility. Ron asked roughly how many of the 26 would occupy positions the city would consider critical; Roners estimated "roughly 10." Council members noted existing vacancies could be used to absorb retirements without immediately refilling equivalent titles: "If eight employees choose to retire and take the service credit and we have three vacancies now, we have a total of 11 which gives us that flexibility to back-fill critical positions," Roners said.

Council members also emphasized that positions required by municipal code or state law would be filled, and that savings would come from other vacancies. The council formally moved the item and voted to introduce Ordinance No. 2026-421; the vote was recorded as unanimous. The ordinance authorizes amending the contract between the city and the CalPERS Board of Administration; staff will return in March with the actuarial costs and the formal list of eligible employees and will set the retirement-window dates at that time.

The council did not set the precise cost to the city at the Jan. 14 meeting; Roners said CalPERS will take about 60 days to compute exact actuarial costs once the city submits the eligible list. The councilnext procedural steps are the Feb. 11 second reading and the March staff report with the employee list and definitive costing.