Tension mounts regarding pensions

Newport Beach could become the next battleground in the escalating fight for control of public-employee pensions.

The City Council may give voters the final say over pension increases. But it’s still unclear whether Councilman Keith Curry — who proposed the pension discussion — is brewing up a major battle between employee unions and fiscal conservatives, or a tempest in a teapot.

“I believe our pension benefits are currently fair and equitable, but I think we need to have this kind of control to ensure that future councils don’t overspend,” Curry said.

Curry’s strategy to prevent overspending is a ballot measure that would require voter approval of any increases to employee pensions that raise the city and taxpayers’ share of the cost.

Pensions and their soaring costs increase tension between government workers and the elected officials who oversee them.

A struggle between Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach and sheriff’s deputies over pensions has made Orange County a center of attention.

If Newport’s council puts Curry’s issue on the ballot, “this is going to be ground zero of a statewide war,” Newport Beach Firefighters Assn. President Jeff Boyles said. “We don’t want to go there.”

The city’s public-safety unions, which endorse and contribute to council candidates, would oppose the measure, if only because they think it weakens their collective bargaining rights.

“I am opposed to his [Curry’s] proposal philosophically based on the fact that we have a representative form of government,” Boyles said. “I don’t want it to set the standard for city employees up and down the state.”

And Curry’s council colleagues may be hard to convince when he makes his pitch Tuesday.

Mayor Steve Rosansky agreed with Boyles that asking voters to weigh in on something as complex as employee negotiations is doling out the council’s responsibilities to the public.

“I don’t think you could possibly educate residents enough about contract terms,” Rosansky said. “Basically what you’ll wind up getting is just people making a gut-level decision.”

And Newport appears to have little to gain from what would likely be a costly battle.

The 3% at 50 retirement benefit is the norm for public safety workers, and Newport’s all have it.

Other city employees recently negotiated a contract that hikes pensions, but the employees are covering the increase.

“We’ve reached a situation where we’ve negotiated with our employee associations and we’ve reached agreements on salaries as well as pensions — and there really isn’t more to protect,” Councilman Don Webb said. “I think if we go forward with something like this we’re tying the hands of future councils, and I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Curry argued no one expects a major pension deficit until it hits, and there’s no way to know what employees may want in the future.

“Part of the problem is that we have this whipsaw effect, where an employee bargaining group wins a concession from a city that’s in a different set of circumstances,” and then that’s used as leverage to drive up benefits elsewhere, Councilman Michael Henn said.

Some wonder who’s really pushing the issue — Curry, or his supporters in GOP fund-raiser and kingmaker the Lincoln Club. Curry said club members told him they were concerned about the pension issue and he proposed the ballot measure.

With that kind of backing, Curry’s proposal could be a test case if it passes in Newport. “We think every city should take a look at this, as well as the county,” Lincoln Club President Richard K. Wagner said.

When Newport council members cast their votes Tuesday, it may be a choice of whom they want mad at them — city employee unions, or GOP bigwigs.

Wagner didn’t say whether the Lincoln Club would circulate petitions to get the issue on the ballot if Newport’s council rejects the idea.

“We haven’t crossed that bridge yet, but I know that we in the club will be very, very disappointed in that there’s six Republicans on that council,” he said.

ALICIA ROBINSON may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at [email protected].