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Years ago, when times were rosier, the Bakersfield City Council did what many cities and counties in California did. They granted pension increases to their employees. That, combined with a market crash that followed, and then another this year, mean the city is facing a huge debt.
On top of that, the city had been running its retiree health benefits on a pay-as-you-go basis — basically, the way the feds are running Social Security. A few years ago, the city added up its retiree medical liabilities and discovered it’s got another huge debt.
Add them together, and it’s something like $200 million.
The city started to pay down its medical liability, but faced with harsh revenue drops, backed away from that this year.
But when the bill comes due for the annual pension contribution, the city won’t have the option of putting off paying it until later.
Here’s how Councilman Ken Weir — a proponent of limiting employee benefits — put it:
Our...
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