Press Articles

Pension fund is declared sound - Study was prepared for federal lawsuit
San Diego's pension fund faces “no material risk,” said an expert employed by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, though Aguirre maintained as recently as Friday that poor management could doom the retirement system. MORE>>>

Press Articles Index Article source: SDUT San Diego Union Tribune VSD Voice of San Diego RDR San Diego Reader BEAT San Diego City Beat SDM San Diego Magazine SDDT San Diego Daily Transcript Period Covered: 2007

Pension board adopts plan to comply with tax law The governing board of the city of San Diego's pension system on Friday unanimously adopted a 14-point plan negotiated with the Internal Revenue Service to bring its programs and practices in compliance with federal tax law. MORE>>>	12/21/2007	SDUT
Pension Attorney Resigns The fiduciary counsel to the city of San Diego's pension system has abruptly resigned. MORE>>>	12/17/2007	VSD
Layoffs Didn't Eject Workers From City's Rolls When Dai Nguyen lost his job as a mechanical engineer in the Water Department earlier this year, he became the first -- and only -- employee to be ousted from the city of San Diego in the wake of the job cuts Mayor Jerry Sanders promised for this year. That's because all but 82 of the approximately 300 employees that Sanders wanted to lay off as part of this year's budget fled their jobs to others in the city or left altogether in the weeks leading up the to the beginning of this current year. MORE>>>	12/05/2007	VSD
Part of the Bargain A quick note on our story today on Mayor Jerry Sanders' acknowledgement that the city likely won't be able to keep a promise the city made to Local 127 in 2005. When employees agreed to take home less pay that year, the city agreed to add $600 million to the pension above its normal annual contributions over three years. So far, only $107 million has been pumped into the retirement fund. The unions says that if the city doesn't come up with the remaining $493 million by the June 30 deadline, the terms of their contract would be violated and the dispute could wind up in court unless it's resolved before then. Next year's contract negotiations are bound to be the venue for the city and Local 127 to bargain over that dispute. MORE>>>	11/30/2007	VSD
Only a Few Hundred Million Short The city of San Diego could find itself once again negotiating over a pension payment it committed to make but will be unable to, as officials acknowledged this week that the city won't likely hold up its pledge to pour $600 million into the employee retirement fund by the end of June. MORE>>>	11/30/2007	VSD
Another Hold-Up for DA's Case The California Supreme Court agreed to review District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis' prosecution of six former pension trustees, marking another obstacle in the two-and-a-half-year-old case, which has yet to reach trial. MORE>>>	11/28/2007	VSD
IRS angle arises in pension muddle - Frye gets answers about exceeding limits While the city of San Diego is closer to straightening out its muddled finances to Wall Street's satisfaction, there is still plenty left unsettled. Case in point: How do the people with the highest pensions get paid? For more than a decade, the answer was illegally. Officials from the pension system and the Internal Revenue Service are working to fix that this year, but their effort has been overshadowed in San Diego by a focus on budgets, financial audits and benefits-related lawsuits. MORE>>>	11/24/2007	SDUT
Aguirre Sues Over Pension Credits .City Attorney Mike Aguirre sued the retirement board today for deciding last week to allow the pension fund to absorb the $146 cost of a controversial benefit. Instead of requiring employees who purchased service credits to pay the difference between the benefits' cost to the pension system and the bill employees paid, the retirement board voted Friday to let the trust fund make up the discrepancy through investment returns and payments by the city. MORE>>>	11/20/2007	VSD
City will absorb cost of pension credit perk - Those who bought them won't have to pay more Retirees won another victory yesterday when San Diego's city employee pension board decided the city should eat the costs of a program that makes up a $150 million chunk of the billion-dollar employee retirement deficit. MORE>>>	11/17/2007	SDUT
Private attorneys to handle work on landslide, pension City Attorney Michael Aguirre will not represent San Diego in two prominent cases – including last week's La Jolla landslide, the City Council decided yesterday. Mayor Jerry Sanders called on the council to consider hiring outside attorneys to settle a pension dispute, and the mayor's request expanded last week, after Aguirre's response to the Oct. 3 landslide. MORE>>>	10/10/2007	SDUT
Aguirre's war on expenses getting expensive - Pension-case costs mounting for city City Attorney Michael Aguirre took office in 2004. One day last summer, San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre summoned several staff lawyers into his office and then, while lying on his couch, began reading excerpts from Shakespeare's “Henry V.” Aguirre liked the play because it was about a scrappy group of fighters uniting behind a strong wartime leader. From his spot on the couch, he read aloud the play's famous line “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers,” recalled one former staff member, who said Aguirre was “trying to motivate us.” If litigation can be compared to war, however, Aguirre has lost battle after battle in the central campaign of his tenure: reforming the city's pension system. Aguirre's defeats have cost the city millions of dollars and countless hours in staff time, according to a review by The San Diego Union-Tribune. MORE>>>	10/07/07	SDUT
Sanders: Aguirre Wants Bankruptcy Mayor Jerry Sanders accused City Attorney Mike Aguirre at a press conference this morning of trying to drive City Hall into a climate of chaos that eventually leads to bankruptcy. Sanders said Aguirre is making unrealistic demands that are holding up the city's return to the bond market, where the city of San Diego can borrow more cheaply for construction projects on roads and sewer lines. MORE>>>	9/28/2007	VSD
Aguirre seeks cap on cost of retirement fund benefit City Attorney Michael Aguirre has called for the City Council to change the municipal code to limit the costs San Diego will bear from an employee perk that was not properly accounted for by the retirement system. Advertisement Aguirre's proposal is in response to the San Diego pension board's acknowledgment Friday that nearly $150 million of the city's $1 billion retirement fund deficit can be attributed to faulty pricing of a special program. MORE>>>	9/26/2007	SDUT
Mayor points finger at Aguirre, wants judge to settle pension dispute Mayor Jerry Sanders wants a judge to settle the latest employee-benefit dispute between City Attorney Michael Aguirre and San Diego's pension system. At issue is the date that San Diego halted several pension and health benefits. Labor contracts eliminating the benefits took effect in July 2005, but the contracts weren't formally codified until this past February. MORE>>>	9/26/2007	SDUT
Retirees could cover pension-perk shortfall Sanders blasts low fees for more years of credit Mayor Jerry Sanders, angry over the San Diego pension system's formal admission yesterday that prior retirement boards undervalued a special employee perk, opened up the possibility that the burden of the $146 million shortfall could be placed on current and future retirees. The sum represents about 15 percent of the city's $1 billion unfunded pension liability, a debt that has led to five years of financial and legal turmoil and protracted conflicts between elected officials and employees. MORE>>>	9/22/2007	SDUT
Retirement board calls Aguirre's behavior unethical San Diego retirement board members questioned City Attorney Michael Aguirre's professionalism yesterday, accusing him of berating their attorney during a confrontation and intimidating him “by personal threat under color of law.” In a letter addressed to Mayor Jerry Sanders and Council President Scott Peters, board members labeled Aguirre's behavior “unprofessional and unethical.” They also pledged to seek unspecified sanctions against him. MORE>>>	9/13/2007	SDUT
Pension board members say Aguirre made threats Pension board members accused San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre on Wednesday of threatening the system's attorney during a confrontation over retirement benefits thought to have been discontinued in 2005. In a letter addressed to Mayor Jerry Sanders and Council President Scott Peters, the board members labeled Aguirre's behavior “unprofessional and unethical.” They also pledged to seek unspecified sanctions against Aguirre. MORE>>>	9/12/2007	SDUT
Court lets pension case go forward - 6 ex-board members are facing charges The prosecution of six former members of the San Diego retirement board on charges of breaking state conflict-of-interest laws can go forward, an appeals court ruled yesterday. The decision focused on the now-infamous 2002 votes by the pension board that allowed the city to put less money into the retirement system than was required. The plan, known as MP2, contributed to a current $1 billion deficit in the retirement system and other financial strife for the city. In exchange, prosecutors contend, city workers – including the board members – got enhanced retirement packages. MORE>>>	9/08/2007	SDUT
City, IRS holding talks on pension San Diego could be on the hook much sooner than originally thought for nearly $100 million owed to the city's employee pension system, which is in talks with the Internal Revenue Service over how to maintain the retirement plan's tax-exempt status. That could pose a substantial problem for a city that has dramatically clamped down on expenses in recent years because of growing retirement obligations and the daunting prospect of funding a billion-dollar backlog of work on aging streets, pipes and sewers. MORE>>>	9/07/2007	SDUT
Pension numbers trouble Aguirre More than 200 of San Diego's public safety employees are set to receive retirement packages that will exceed $1 million, according to estimates from a pension expert hired by the city. City Attorney Michael Aguirre sought the information as part of his continuing effort to eliminate pension increases that he contends were granted illegally twice since 1996. Courts have turned away his attempts to erase the increases, though Aguirre says the new numbers could bolster his chances of persuading the City Council to reverse the decisions to boost the benefits. MORE>>>	9/05/2007	SDUT
Questions raised on pension ventures -Comptroller asks about investments Another city official has raised questions about the state of the San Diego pension system's investments, as the city nears a milestone on the path to fiscal recovery. MORE>>>	8/28/2007	SDUT
Aguirre Again At Center Of Pension Feud It's become almost rote at San Diego City Hall. Level a charge at City Attorney Michael Aguirre, and he will counter with one of his own. That's what happened Thursday, when it was suggested that a lapse on Aguirre's part could cost the city millions of dollars in new pension expenses. He responded by labeling the effort a deliberate attempt to sully him.MORE>>>	8/19/2007	SDUT
Delay Opens Pension Door At City Hall - Aguirre Disputes System's Position About Eligibility. Hundreds of employees at San Diego City Hall may be able to tap two potentially lucrative pension perks because the city did not formalize the 2005 City Council decision to limit access to the programs until earlier this year.The lead lawyer for the city's pension system made that determination earlier this month, but City Attorney Michael Aguirre disputed it yesterday. He said the labor agreements that made new employees ineligible for those benefits were in force from the moment the pacts took effect July 1, 2005. MORE>>>	8/17/2007	SDUT
(County) Pension Board Stands Pat On 2 Hedge Funds - Both Investments Up For The Year The county retirement board has no plans to dump a pair of hedge funds that have slumped in recent weeks, despite taking a bath last year when a different hedge fund collapsed. MORE>>>	8/17/2007	SDUT
Aguirre Looks to High Court City Attorney Mike Aguirre has requested that the California Supreme Court decertify an appellate court ruling that proved crucial in a judge's dismissal of Aguirre's pension case earlier this month. The request is one of the many options Aguirre has said he will pursue since the case was thrown out. MORE>>>	8/14/2007	VSD
Despite Pension Case's Demise, Aguirre Presses On When he filed his high-stakes pension case in 2005, San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre couched his confidence. His attempt to erase hundreds of millions of dollars from the city's looming pension deficit was going to be risky, he said. MORE>>>	8/13/2007	VSD
Aguirre Vows He'll Broaden Benefits Fight Despite Ruling Despite suffering the biggest legal setback of his term, City Attorney Michael Aguirre insists that San Diego still can eliminate retirement benefits that he contends are improper. Undaunted by an Aug. 3 court ruling, Aguirre continues to call them “the illegal pension benefits,” though Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Barton all but derailed Aguirre's court challenge. MORE>>>	8/13/2007	SDUT
Aguirre Loses Pension-Benefits Claim - Judge Rules Case Filed Too Long After Approval A Superior Court judge cut off San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre's favored strategy in his quest to cut back employee pensions yesterday, ruling that the courts cannot intervene because too much time has passed since the benefits were approved. The city's case, said Judge Jeffrey Barton, was filed far too late to meet the one-year statute of limitations, affirmed by an appeals court last month, in cases where public officials are accused of improperly benefiting from their votes. MORE>>>	8/4/2007	SDUT
Pension Case All But Dead Judge Jeffrey Barton's ruling today is the latest letdown for City Attorney Mike Aguirre in his pension crusade. Barring successful appeals, it would mark the death of Aguirre's challenge to $900 million worth of employee benefits and the end of a fight that he has made the hallmark of his first term. MORE>>>	8/3/2007	VSD
Judge Bars Pension Case The Voice of San iego reports that City Attorney Mike Aguirre's attempt to roll back $900 million in pension benefits met another stumbling block today when a judge ruled that his case could not proceed because it was filed too late after the benefits were created. MORE>>>	8/3/2007	VSD
Aguirre Suing Power Curbed The City Council voted Tuesday to extend its restrictions on City Attorney Mike Aguirre's authority to sue without the council's permission into the new fiscal year. By a 5-2 vote, the council voted to require Aguirre to seek council approval for a lawsuit before the city auditor pays the legal fees associated with the case. MORE>>>	7/31/2007	VSD
City Is Ordered To Pay Pension-Suit Legal Fees The city must pay the legal fees for city workers and former retirement board members who were sued by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, an appellate court has ruled. MORE>>>	7/27/2007	SDUT
Aguirre, Opponents Square Off Over Pensions - Judge Will Decide If Case Should Go On City Attorney Michael Aguirre defended his pension case yesterday against arguments that could end it before a judge can address his central assertion. Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Barton allowed Aguirre and five opposing attorneys to appear before him to discuss an appellate court decision and the impact of a law set to take effect next year. MORE>>>	7/25/2007	SDUT
'08 Vote, Pension, Contracts To Collide - Moves Today Will Influence Next Year City Attorney Michael Aguirre has been mostly stymied in his quest to persuade a judge to strike down two rounds of recent San Diego pension benefits increases. If Aguirre has lacked for court successes, his continued pressure could have a residual effect heading into 2008, when San Diego will experience what amounts to a political perfect storm. MORE>>>	7/23/2007	SDUT
Appellate Court Hears Pension-Case Arguments Six former members of the San Diego city pension board, who are charged with violating the state conflict-of-interest law, have asked an appeals court to throw out the case. A hearing yesterday before the 4th District Court of Appeal focused on the law that prohibits public officials from voting on contracts from which they can personally benefit. MORE>>>	7/18/2007	SDUT
Aguirre's Pension Proposal A Tough Sell - City Would Need To Raise Revenues City Attorney Michael Aguirre said yesterday that it's time for the pain to end, but first, it must be spread around. Aguirre proposed a plan that even he admitted would be a tough sell – persuading current and future city retirees to give up at least $400 million worth of benefits, with one crucial condition: The city must raise revenues to fully fund the remaining value of the pension obligations. MORE>>>	7/10/2007	SDUT
Retirees Wait On Pension Outcome - Judge's Rulings Leave Conclusion Uncertain - Months after a legal decision that many attorneys thought sharply reduced the number of pensioners that could lose parts of their benefits, a judge issued another ruling that could open up the case to thousands of current and future city retirees. MORE>>>	7/8/2007	SDUT
Retirees May Lose Portion of Benefits - 11,000 Workers Could Be Affected Thousands of city retirees could lose a portion of their pension benefits following a legal victory for City Attorney Michael Aguirre in his attempt to have certain benefit boosts. Judge Jeffrey Barton ruled yesterday that only workers who retired before July 2004 – when San Diego agreed to end the practice of underfunding the pension system – are immune from seeing their benefits challenged. MORE>>>	6/28/2007	SDUT
Bankruptcy mentioned in pension talks In recent months, it seemed San Diego officials had defused the bankruptcy talk that ignited contentious city political campaigns in 2004 and 2005. Yesterday, the word crept into the conversation again as the City Council considered plans to convert the city's pension system into a group trust that would protect the assets of two other agencies taking part in it. MORE>>>	6/27/2007	SDUT
Supervisors Approve Retiree Health Care Compromise The County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to a compromise to help pay down the government's $1.2 billion pension debt while still providing health care benefits to its retirees. MORE>>>	6/21/2007	VSD
County at crossroads on health plan - Proposal would end some retiree benefits There's little debate that San Diego County supervisors made a bold move in December when they threatened to eliminate health benefits for all retired employees if a plan to reduce the county's long-term debt fell flat. MORE>>>	6/17/2007	SDUT
After Controversy, Sanders' Budget Sails Unscathed Just as the City Council began taking aim at Mayor Jerry Sanders' budget proposal in late April, some council members and their independent budget analyst took reporters aside before a weeknight hearing at a hotel ballroom in Pacific Beach. Their message was succinct: The council expected to flex its authority over the final say more than it did last year, when Sanders was granted some leeway during his first year in office and the strong-mayor system of government debuted. >>>MORE	6/12/2007	VSD
Retiree Health Deficit: $1.09B The city of San Diego has a $1.09 billion deficit in retiree health care, according to the latest actuarial study of the city's long-term cost. MORE>>>	6/05/2007	VSD
Aguirre Makes Plea to Council to Restore Positions City Attorney Mike Aguirre continued the uphill defense of his office's management Wednesday in front of a mostly skeptical City Council that will have final say over his budget for the coming year. MORE>>>	5/24/2007	VSD
Aguirre Accuses More Than He Charges - City Attorney's High-Profile Probes Often Go Nowhere April 28 - during his 28 months in office, Aguirre has publicly announced at least seven high-profile criminal investigations. But more often than not, he hasn't filed charges in those cases. MORE>>>	4/28/2007	SDUT
Council Denies Firefighter Pay Raise April 27 - San Diego's firefighters will not receive a pay raise in the coming year after the City Council voted Tuesday to freeze their pay for a third consecutive year.. MORE>>>	4/27/2007	VSD
With Labor Deal in the Balance, Mayor Peddles Health Care Fix April 23 - With one contract with police officers nearly sealed and another with firefighters on the rocks, Mayor Jerry Sanders will use his planned health care reforms this week as a key selling point to push the firefighters' contract through a recalcitrant City Council. MORE>>>	4/23/2007	VSD
As Salary Freezes Thaw, Impacts Seen to Pension System April 19 - As the city of San Diego's famous pension deficit has steadied in recent years, some officials have noted that progress could be made through simple measures. One of the most commonly cited: salary freezes that have either been accepted by or foisted upon workers MORE>>>	4/19/2007	VSD
Aguirre's Pension Arguments Debated April 13 - Lawyers doing battle over San Diego's pension benefits argued yesterday over City Attorney Michael Aguirre's desire to target nearly 20,000 current and former city employees in an attempt to reduce the city's retirement debt. The parties returned to court after a three-month break, in which the future of the case was supposed to take shape, following Aguirre's loss in its early stage last year. MORE>>>	4/13/2007	SDUT
Budget Vote Stopped by Late-Breaking Legal Advice April 11 - The City Council elected not to decide between two competing pieces of legislation over budget authority Tuesday after City Attorney Mike Aguirre issued a last-minute opinion concluding that both versions would be illegal. MORE>>>	4/11/2007	VSD
Possible pay raise for police watched April 6 – If San Diego police receive a 6 percent pay raise this year – a scenario spelled out in an internal memo – it would cost the city $13 million in wages and $5 million in annual pension contributions. MORE>>>	4/6/2007	SDUT
Terms end for several pension trustees - Board's president stayed for 'duration' April 2 - The SDUT reports on the recent vacancies which have occurred on the Pension Board and summarizes the “…stormiest period of the retirement system’s 80-year existence…” MORE>>>	4/2/2007	SDUT
Aguirre, chief escalate war of words - City attorney sees obstruction of justice March 30 - The SDUT reports that a dispute between San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre and a local developer erupted into a barrage of accusations yesterday, with Aguirre accusing the police chief of obstructing justice and the police chief accusing Aguirre of “character assassination.” MORE>>>	3/30/2007	SDUT
Open Meeting Law Takes Stage in City Attorney Dispute March 28 – The Voice of San Diego reports that City Attorney Mike Aguirre said Tuesday he would not obey the City Council's decision to limit his ability to file lawsuits because the legislation the council hastily assembled Monday evening violated the state's open meeting law, an allegation he said he will probe in the coming weeks. MORE>>>	3/28/2007	VSD
Aguirre Renews Effort to Advise SDCERS March 28 – The Voice of San Diego reports that City Attorney Mike Aguirre said yesterday that he will renew his fight to take over as the pension system’s chief lawyer, saying that an agreement between the city and the retirement board in his main pension lawsuit has cleared a conflict that has stood in his way. MORE>>>	3/28/2007	VSD
Council Votes to Limit Aguirre's Suing Power The San Diego City Council unexpectedly passed legislation Monday evening that bars City Attorney Mike Aguirre from spending city money on lawsuits his office files without the council’s support. MORE>>>	3/27/2007	VSD
Aguirre Asks CA Supreme Court City Attorney Mike Aguirre said today that he asked the California Supreme Court to hear his hallmark pension case, which was sliced in its scope by a local judge in December and rejected by the appeals court last week. MORE>>>	03/23/2007	VSD
Pension fund is declared sound - Study was prepared for federal lawsuit San Diego's pension fund faces “no material risk,” said an expert employed by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, though Aguirre maintained as recently as Friday that poor management could doom the retirement system. MORE>>>	03/21/2007	SDUT
2003 Audit Finally OK’d - Report Included 66 Restatements Totaling Nearly $1.8 Billion San Diego's pursuit of a clean annual audit for 2003 ended yesterday with applause from a roomful of city officials and employees whose enthusiasm seemed only slightly tempered by the awareness that three more annual audits are still overdue. MORE>>>	03/17/2007	SDUT
Payment Span Set on Pension Debt Mayor Jerry Sanders scored another political victory yesterday when San Diego's pension board, to retire the system's $1 billion debt, adopted a payment schedule that is firmly in line with a plan he issued last year. MORE>>>	03/17/2007	SDUT
Appeals court lets stand pension-benefits ruling An appeals court yesterday rejected San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre's call to overturn a Superior Court judge's decision that left most of San Diego's contested pension benefits safe from challenge. MORE>>>	03/14/2007	SDUT
Judge wants to wait for state court case The judge in the federal pension-fraud case scrapped the May trial date for five former San Diego pension officials yesterday, saying he would wait at least a few months to see what happens in a separate state pension-related prosecution. MORE>>>	03/03/2007	SDUT
Hired to Reform, Former Auditor Left Unhappy with Mayor's Control John Torell never really settled into his position as the city of San Diego's auditor. He was hired at the height of the city's dysfunction by a mayor who would soon resign and he succeeded two former auditors under investigation by the federal government. MORE>>>	02/26/2007	VSD
Expert opinions abound, differ on pension costs City Attorney Michael Aguirre and the employee pension fund's top administrator clashed yesterday before council members hearing an update on the retirement system's improving prospects. MORE>>>	02/22/2007	SDUT
Look ahead - County pension fund's future health at issue - Editorial Issues simmering on the board of the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association reached the boiling point Thursday. A trustee moved to exclude another trustee, Supervisor Dianne Jacob, from discussing or voting on a resolution passed unanimously by the supervisors, by a vote of the retirement board if necessary. Thankfully, trustee Laura De Marco requested and got a postponement. MORE>>>	02/19/2007	SDUT
Payback Period on Pension Debt Could Get Political The city of San Diego's retirement board is poised to set a new timetable for collecting San Diego's $1 billion pension debt, and its choice will impact how much money the city will have left in future budgets to confront other looming shortfalls. MORE>>>	02/12/2007	VSD
Double-dipping - DROP pads city pensions to absurd levels - Editorial If you ever doubted that the pension benefits of San Diego municipal workers were excessive, consider these simple numbers: A typical firefighter making $75,000 a year can retire at age 55 with a pension of $99,767 – or 133 percent of his highest-year salary. That's right, a worker earning $75,000 can retire with a pension just shy of a hundred grand, along with annual cost-of-living increases, for the rest of his life. MORE>>>	02/11/2007	SDUT
City wants to end special retiree accounts Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Attorney Michael Aguirre will press to close a San Diego program that allows workers to begin collecting their retirement pay in special accounts while they are still on the city payroll. MORE>>>	02/08/2007	SDUT
Davis quits his post on pension board Peter Q. Davis, a former bank president who ran for San Diego mayor in 2000 and 2004, has resigned from the city's pension board, citing differences with Mayor Jerry Sanders over a recent estimate of the pension deficit. MORE>>>	02/07/2007	SDUT
The Conflicted Conflict Police - Commentary The county's retirement system is practically mocking itself. Thursday, the lawyer for the county employees' retirement system issued an opinion stating simply that county Supervisor Dianne Jacob should not be allowed to continue discussing or cast a vote on an issue that has come before the retirement system's board. MORE>>>	02/05/2007	VSD
A needed shift Move city workers to a 401(k)-style pension - Editorial One major campaign promise that Mayor Jerry Sanders has not yet fulfilled is to close San Diego's debt-ridden pension system to new hires and replace it with a 401(k)-style retirement plan such as most private-sector workers have. This proposed shift faces vociferous opposition from City Hall's powerful public employee unions. MORE>>>	02/05/2007	SDUT
Pension pap Ignoring law, facts will hurt county retirees Suppose the board of the San Diego County Employees' Retirement Association could grant retirees extra, tax-free health benefits and set the amount. Suppose it also could demand that county taxpayers forever pay for those extra benefits, plus an even higher sum for retirees' guaranteed pension checks. MORE>>>	02/03/2007	SDUT
Panel told to serve retirees, not county -Supervisors' move may be 'intimidation' County pension officials got the message loud and clear yesterday from their attorney: your duty is to retirees, not county supervisors. MORE>>>	02/02/2007	SDUT
Pension Case Update Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Barton today heard brief statements from attorneys in the city of San Diego's high-profile pension case. He set another hearing for April 12, with the understanding that an appeals court will have decided whether to consider City Attorney Mike Aguirre's appeal to a previous ruling. MORE>>>	01/25/2007	VSD
Minimum won't do - Pension deficit needs bigger city payments - Editorial The city of San Diego's troubled pension system recorded strong gains in the latest actuarial accounting. But the City Council must not be lulled into a mistaken sense that the crisis has passed. It clearly has not. Strong measures still are urgently needed to avert a financial meltdown brought on by years of chronic underfunding coupled with lavish increases in retirement benefits. MORE>>>	01/25/2007	SDUT
Aguirre appeals ruling against pension rollbacks City Attorney Michael Aguirre on Thursday appealed a judge's ruling that prevents the roll back of certain pension benefits granted to San Diego city employees. MORE>>>	01/25/2007	SDUT
Aguirre's Objection Denied Judge Jeffrey Barton has upheld his Dec. 14 ruling that the stakes of City Attorney Mike Aguirre's pension lawsuit must be significantly scaled back, despite the objections Aguirre raised in court earlier this month. MORE>>>	01/22/2007	VSD
Actuary cautions city on pension payments Doom and gloom have been staples in nearly every description of San Diego's pension crisis. So, after the latest actuarial report indicated the deficit has shrunk from $1.43 billion to $1 billion, one would expect pension board officials to be high-fiving each other. Not quite. MORE>>>	01/19/2007	SDUT
Mayor wants council to put more money into pension January 19, 2007 Mayor Jerry Sanders will urge the City Council to inject more money into San Diego's pension system than the nearly $140 million called for by a retirement fund expert last week. MORE>>>	01/19/2007	SDUT
Lawyers fired by Aguirre file lawsuits Two lawyers fired by San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre have filed a joint wrongful-termination lawsuit against the city, accusing Aguirre of abusive behavior and creating a hostile work environment. MORE>>>	01/19/2007	SDUT
Mayor Not Swayed The Mayor's Office was a likely candidate to be among those rejoicing at the news last week that the pension system's deficit had dropped from $1.4 billion to $1 billion. After all, it's trying to close an $87 million budget gap and a smaller pension bill next year would certainly help that endeavor. MORE>>>	01/18/2007	VSD
Profanity in e-mail sets off critics of City Attorney's office Critics of City Attorney Michael Aguirre were set off over the past week by profanity one of Aguirre's top staff lawyers used in two e-mails sent to opposing counsel in San Diego's main pension case. MORE>>>	01/16/2007	SDUT
Retirement Costs Piped into Water, Sewer Hikes Mayor Jerry Sanders pledged during his 2005 run for office that he would not raise taxes to pay down the pension and retirement healthcare deficits that continue to strain city budgets. But a portion of the hikes to residents' water and sewer bills -- billed as needed funds for legally required repairs to both systems -- will be used to help pay down those mounting pension and health care costs. MORE>>>	01/16/2007	VSD
Pension Fund Reports Bump in Funding The city of San Diego's pension fund experienced a resurgence in its most recent annual financial evaluation, reporting that its deficit had dropped from $1.4 billion to an even $1 billion. MORE>>>	01/13/2007	VSD
Aguirre appeals his pension case City Attorney Michael Aguirre told a San Diego Superior Court judge yesterday that city benefits that he maintains are illegal can be recalculated without violating the terms of a legal settlement the judge cited in a December decision. MORE>>>	01/12/2006	SDUT
Sanders: Fixing mistakes will cost Mayor says - San Diego can't ignore problems if city is to move forward Sanders' plan of action Mayor Jerry Sanders invoked the mistakes and mismanagement of San Diego's recent past in his second straight State of the City address last night, this time as a rationale for costly fixes he proposes for the cash-strapped city. MORE>>>	01/12/2007	SDUT
Pension deficit shrinks for first time in five years - Change in accounting responsible in part for new estimate of $1 billion For the first time in five years, San Diego's glaring pension deficit has fallen, startling news for a city recently accustomed to no end of bad financial tidings. MORE>>>	01/12/2007	SDUT
San Diego's pension crisis: Key players January 9 - The SDUT has provided as list of people (whith picutures) whose actions have proven to be pivotal as the pension crisis unfolds. MORE>>>	01/09/2007	SDUT
Aguirre: Re-price Service Credits City Attorney Mike Aguirre repeated his call for the City Council to overhaul a controversial retirement benefit program that he claims would knock $110 million off the city's current $1.4 billion pension deficit. MORE>>>	01/06/2007	VSD