By Burris Debenning
Senior Buyer, City of Ventura
As a dedicated Ventura resident and City employee, I buy locally and contribute to Ventura’s economy. Many of my co-workers live in this community too, and those who do not, purchase in Ventura to support local businesses.
I, along with several of my colleagues, left other jobs in the private sector to work in this community–not for the pay but for the opportunity to serve our community and, YES, to plan for our future retirement. My wife and I may never be able to afford a house in this community
but someday we do want to retire.
Does that make us unreasonable? No.
Do I want the same for all California workers? YES!
The truth is, 80% of public employees such as nurses, school employees, college professors, and child protection workers who retire receive less than $2,500 a month in retirement benefits, and many of us will receive no Social Security. Nearly 80 cents of every dollar in retirement benefits we receive comes from our paycheck contributions and investment earnings.
In recent years, public workers like me have saved the state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars by contributing more to our own retirements and making pension contribution structural changes for new hires.
In 2010, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research published a paper about the minimum amounts retirees should have in income to retire in every California county. The report found that the living wage for a single elderly person in good health living in Ventura Co was:
$1,256/month, for a homeowner without a mortgage
$1,992/month, for a renter
$2,693/month, for a homeowner with a mortgage
Many of my family and friends were not aware of the income they needed to retire, and hopefully you will find the information useful. As you can see, the typical retirement benefits for a nurse or school employee cover only the bare minimum.
The truth is, people are scared. There are right-wing politicians and special interests trying to blame public workers for the state’s budget problems.
But Californians deserve a debate about retirement security based on facts, not scare tactics. Defined benefits plans are the most affordable and secure method of paying for retirement. According to the National Institute for Retirement Security, defined benefit pensions earn higher rates of return than 401ks and cost far less to manage (18 cents per $100 invested for pensions vs. $1.35 per $100 for mutual funds).
I hope we can improve–not erode–the retirement security every Californian deserves.