The city of San Bernardino has few avenues left to get out of bankruptcy as the city has laid off city employees, made cuts to services and unsuccessfully pushed for greater control over public safety salaries, according to an editorial in the Riverside Press Enterprise. The California Public Employees Retirement System will likely emerge unscathed from San Bernardino’s bankruptcy proceedings. The city resumed making its biweekly payments to CalPERS in July 2013 and, according to Reuters, has been repaying millions of dollars in arrears. At the time of the city’s bankruptcy, San Bernardino faced $192.7 million in unfunded pension and other post-employment benefit liabilities. With the resumption of payments to CalPERS and a city government unwilling to take on the pension giant, which scored a victory of sorts in Stockton’s bankruptcy proceedings, the city will likely take more burdensome routes to resolve its bankruptcy, according to the editorial. The city hoped that voters would pass Measure Q, which would have required public safety employees to engage in collective bargaining with the city to determine salaries, but that effort fell short.
