Full Citation
Title: Understanding Public Pensions in Sonoma County
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2023
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Abstract: Defined-benefit pensions, which provide guaranteed monthly retirement income based on a worker’s salary and years of service, are a key pillar of public employee compensation. In Sonoma County, K-12 teachers and other educators are covered by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), County of Sonoma (i.e., county government) employees and Sonoma Valley Fire District employees are covered by the Sonoma County Employee Retirement Association (SCERA), and most other state and local government employees are covered by the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS). This brief examines pension benefits for public servants in Sonoma County in terms of their role in employee compensation, the evolving financial status of pension systems, the impact of pension reform on costs, and how different pension systems in the county and surrounding Bay Area region stack up against each other in terms of protection from inflation during retirement. Section 1 outlines the size and makeup of public employment and highlights the public sector pay penalty in Sonoma County based on Census data. Section 2 analyzes pension system funded status and cost trends using retirement system actuarial data. Section 3 compares cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) policies among public pensions across the Bay Area and highlights the impact of SCERA’s lack of systematic inflation protection on retiree incomes and pension benefit value. Much of the retirement system analysis in this brief focuses on SCERA. A more detailed analysis of CalPERS and CalSTRS funded status, costs, and accounting and actuarial reforms can be found in Brief #2 of the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Marin Public Pension Series. 1
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Authors: Rhee, Nari
Publisher: UC Berkeley Labor Center
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Aging and Retirement
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