Close to Home: Broken county promises

There are many negative comments in the press about Sonoma County retiree pensions. A lot of the information is incorrect or totally blown out of proportion.

The facts are that employees pay almost as much toward their pensions as the county does, and 60 percent or more of pension dollars paid come from earnings on the pension fund, not from taxpayers. In reality, most Sonoma County pensions are not very high. Twenty percent of county retirees receive pensions of less than $1,000 per month, and 46 percent receive less than $2,000 per month, the majority having worked 15 to 30 years for the public.

Fewer than 3.5 percent get pensions of more than $100,000. These amounts have remained frozen for years, as Sonoma County is the only county in California not providing automatic cost-of-living increases for its retirees’ pensions. While retirees’ modest pensions have remained the same, their medical care premiums have skyrocketed because the county’s leaders reneged on decades of promises to county employees.

Since the 1960s, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has bargained with employee organizations over pay and benefits. Over the years, county employees gave up salary increases and automatic cost-of-living pension increases in exchange for retiree health insurance for themselves and their dependents.

Up until 2008, the county promised its employees in contract negotiations and the hiring process, and throughout their employment, that its contributions toward retiree medical benefits after they retired would be the same as the county gave active employees.

In 2007, county employees and retirees suggested various ways that the county could reduce health costs. The county ignored these suggestions and in 2008 unilaterally cut its contribution for retiree health benefits to a flat $500 a month, regardless of family size and the inevitable inflation of medical premiums. The county also cut its contribution for current employees to a flat $500 but gave current employees a $600-a-month cash payment to use for health insurance. This cash payment cost the taxpayers nearly twice what the county was saving on health insurance for both employees and retirees, and, in addition, the county is paying over another $400 for health reimbursement accounts for some employees.

Even after the county set in motion its scheme to throw its retirees under the bus, county employees and the Sonoma County Association of Retired Employees (SCARE), strongly opposed the medical benefit cut, but the county would not listen. Therefore in 2009, SCARE filed a lawsuit against the county, asking it to live up to the promises it made. The county hired a private law firm to handle this litigation and has paid nearly $4 million in attorney fees, not counting county attorney and staff costs.

Meanwhile, many retirees have seen their cost for insurance premiums skyrocket over the past seven years, up 400 percent, 600 percent and even 800 percent while their pensions remained the same. Retirees cannot pay $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 a month for their health insurance premiums because it wipes out most of their monthly pension. Some retirees have dropped their dependents’ insurance and even their own coverage to pay their bills.

Now, nearly six years into the litigation and with several unfavorable court decisions for the county, the county nevertheless continues to refuse to settle the dispute and restore even part of what it took away from the retirees who dedicated their careers to serving the people of the county. The supervisors have publicly stated that they want to help county seniors, so let’s start with helping their own retirees maintain the health care they were promised by paying for health insurance instead of attorney fees. Ask your Board of Supervisors representative to settle this dispute now by keeping their promises to retired employees.

Joseph Romano, a former deputy sheriff for Sonoma County, and Greg Jacobs, a former assistant district attorney for the county, are board members for the Sonoma County Association of Retired Employees. This was written on behalf of the board.