S.F. supes to vote on retiree health care curb

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The Board of Supervisors is expected to vote today on a projected ballot measurement to dramatically restrict the city's retirement wellness attention benefits for future employees who fall in San Francisco's municipal authorities work force in the old age to come.

Government employee labor unions have got agreed to back up the projected City Charter amendment creating a two-tier retiree wellness attention system - one that keeps existing benefits for current employees and a separate less attractive programme for future workers - in exchange for a sugared pension plan.

"We can't afford not to make it," said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who have been working behind the scenes on the measurement to derive support from important constituencies such as as organized labor. "This is about the fiscal security of the city. This is much larger than the treatments we be given to have got around here about the budget."

Tim Paulson, executive manager director of the San Francisco Labor Council, also applauded the agreement.

"We believe we're in a place to work out two long-term problems in the city," said Paulson, referring to the city's demand to pay for escalating retired person wellness attention costs and the desire of authorities employees to unlock for their benefit a growth excess in San Francisco's municipal worker pension fund.

Under the charter amendment, which would travel before electors in June, current workers would still measure up for full wellness attention insurance coverage upon retirement after working for metropolis authorities for five years. But future workers would necessitate 20 old age of service to measure up for the same benefit.

Driving the proposal is a financial world faced by authorities throughout the state as wellness attention costs have got continued to intensify and money hasn't been put aside to ran into duties to retired workers. The issue is particularly acute in San Francisco, which have comparatively generous benefits, not just in footing of the relatively little clip it takes to measure up but also in the quality and comprehensiveness of the coverage.

According to current estimates, San Francisco will have got to pay an estimated $4 billion for the wellness attention costs of current and future people who are currently in the system.

As wellness attention insurance premiums increase, and as more than metropolis workers retire, the annual cost have increased. In the 1999-2000 financial year, the metropolis paid $17 million for retired person wellness costs. This year, that measure increased to $117 million.

By law, the retired person benefit payments take precedency over other metropolis services. Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who spearheaded the measure, said that agency the metropolis would have got to sell police force cars, fire engines or other metropolis assets before defaulting on the wellness attention expenses.

Both Newsom and Elsbernd admit they had to compromise with labour labor unions to work out the problem, which in this case intends increasing the overall pension a retired employee can earn.

As it is now, people at age 60 annually have the equivalent of 2 percentage of their yearly metropolis wage multiplied by their figure of old age of service. The charter amendment would increase that to the equivalent of 2.3 percentage of their yearly wage multiplied by the figure of old age of service.

It would also would raise pensions through a more than generous cost-of-living increase.

In exchange, future employees would have got to work 20 old age before they can have full retired person wellness benefits. Those people would be eligible for partial benefits if they work less than 20 years, however.

New employees also would pay 2 percentage of every payroll check - along with an further 1 percentage from the metropolis - into a monetary fund that would pull down the $4 billion in unfunded retired person health-care costs.

The added pension benefits would be the metropolis $84 million per twelvemonth for the adjacent 20 years, and $27 million per twelvemonth after that, according to the metropolis controller.

"We are asking the metropolis for short-term pain for a long-term monolithic gain," Elsbernd said.

City workers who belong to labor unions have got voted overwhelmingly to endorse the deal, which will include an 18-month wage freezing to assist wage for the increased pension benefits.

But some people are expressing concern over the alterations - particularly the creative activity of a new and separate monetary fund to pay the retirement wellness attention costs of future workers - will thin the clout of the current Health Service System board that expressions out for their interests.

"We have got a figure of inquiries right now," said Nancy Gin, president of Support Our Benefits, a grouping that advocators for retired metropolis employees. "We don't inquiry the pension side, but we really inquiry the Health Service System side."

E-mail James Wyatt James Buchanan at .