CalPERS searchable database of $100,000+ pensions now online
By Jack Dean
Today the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility (CFFR) has put online a list of nearly 5,000 retired government workers who are collecting annual pensions of $100,000 or more from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).
The database of 4,818 names has been made available in a searchable format. Dubbed “The CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club,” its opening page features the Top 10 pensioners. A retiree from Vernon heads the list with an annual pension of $499,674.
“We feel it’s time for transparency on this issue,” says Marcia Fritz, vice president of CFFR. “In the current economic climate, it’s important that taxpayers know what kind of pensions our public employees are receiving and what the budget implications will be.”
CFFR was founded in 2007 by Keith Richman, a former 38th District Assemblyman. Richman says the foundation’s sole purpose is to tackle the skyrocketing costs of public employee retirements.
“If we don’t do something soon there may be several government entities that go bankrupt, and those that don’t are going to die from a thousand cuts in services,” says Richman. “And because of the strength of the public employee unions as a special interest group in California, I don’t have any confidence at all that Sacramento will address this issue.”
The list was obtained from CalPERS under the Freedom of Information Act.
CFFR is a non-profit political organization committed to educating the public and key decision makers about California public employee retirement benefit issues and developing fiscally responsible solutions that are fair to employees, employers and taxpayers. CFFR believes managing the pension and retiree health care obligations promised to public employees is the most critical public finance issue of this decade.
Jack Dean is publisher of PensionTsunami.com and president of FACT. He is also a member of the board of directors of CFFR.