Santa Barbara County Grand Jury • 2017-2018 • Agency Response
Response to: Pensions in Santa Barbara County

Received July 12, 2018 Jul 19 2018 The Honorable Patricia L. Kelly*

Published: July 12, 2018 2 pages
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Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7

Findings and Recommendations 3 findings

F1
Pension solvency risks are moderate in Buellton and Goleta; pension liquidity risks, as indicated by projected years of negative cash flow under projected CalPERS actuarial returns, are nil. Response: Agree.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
That in view of the 12 findings, the governments of the cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Solvang and the County of Santa Barbara analyze capital spending, employer/employee contribution rates, 107 W. Highway 246 • P.O. Box 1819 • Buellton, CA 93427 • t: 805.688.5177 • f: 805.686.0086 • www.cityofbuellton.com staffing levels, and all existing taxes and revenue sources under the control to identify potential revenue gains and cost savings..
F8
The 12 PEPRA plans in the cities of the County of Santa Barbara have a funded ratio of 0.90 and the 20 non-PEPRA plans have a funded ratio of 0.68. This is small, but positive, sign that the PEPRA law is having the intended effect of strengthening the security of pension benefits in the County. Response: Agree.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
Funded ratios on the municipal pension systems in Santa Barbara County are sensitive to the discount rate applied by CalPERS. A cut in that rate to 6 percent, from the 2018- 19 rate of 7 percent, would push the funded ratios of several municipal systems close to 0.5 and might impose further increases in the employer's contributions in Lompoc, in the City of Santa Barbara and in Santa Maria. Response: Agree.
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
That the governments of the cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Solvang and of the County of Santa Barbara issue public reports. To be discussed at open sessions of their respective governing bodies, on the potential revenue gain and cost-saving measures that may be necessary to ensure continued adequate funding of their pension plans. Response: Have been implemented. The Buellton City Council received a full pension report at their May 24, 2018, public meeting including potential cost saving measures. The City Council directed staff to implement the following: Begin paying the unfunded liability with a 20-year amortization period to save interest • costs • Pay into a "rainy day" fund each year to cover unanticipated pension costs If you have any questions or require further information, please contact me at 805-688-5177. Sincerely, Mr. P. Burdaili. Marc P. Bierdzinski City Manager CC:

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.