By Randall Higgins |Staff Writer|
San Bernardino will submit a bankruptcy exit plan by the end of this month.
The city declared bankruptcy in 2012.
According to the plan, San Bernardino will eliminate three retiree health insurance costs, and outsource its fire, emergency response and trash services. The pension bondholders would receive one penny on the dollar.
The state pension plan, Calpers, would receive full payment, according to Tim Reid of Reuters.
“The city needs a workforce. And you can’t have a workforce without pensions,” said Gary Saenz, city attorney, according to Reuters.
This follows the cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Stockton, California, where bondholder debt and retiree healthcare cost were slashed while the pensions remained unscathed, according to Reuters.
Carter believes the larger issue is that the state legislature needs to quit stalling on pension reforms and find ways to ease the rising public expense and that we need to first start dealing with the problems that are under our control, at home.
She believes that we have to understand that unsustainable pensions are a direct result of irresponsible bargains.
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