California city lays off almost half of public workers
Costa Mesa, CA, United States (AHN) – The California city of Costa Mesa will lay-off about half of its public workers because of rising pension cost. The handing out of pink slips over the weekend caused one maintenance worker to kill himself by jumping from the city hall roof Thursday after receiving the lay-off notice.
The city handed 210 pink slips out of 472 public employees. Some of the laid-off workers have been working for Costa Mesa for decades. The mass lay-off included street sweepers, firemen, mechanics, payroll clerks and animal control workers.
City hall cited as justification for the lay-offs projections that in the next three years, over one-fifth of tax dollars would go to employees’ retirement benefits. Officials said the cost is unsustainable.
It is not only Costa Mesa that is grappling with pension fund shortages, other California cities also made similar belt-tightening measures.
Sacramento issued over 2,000 pink slips recently to educators. The teachers will find out if their preliminary lay-off notices will be revoked if the California governor’s proposed tax extensions would be placed on the ballot and if voters will approve the extensions.
Outside California, a report by the Center for Retirement Research said that in 2009, 58 percent of state and local pension funds were less than 80 percent funded, which is the standard of pension soundness.
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