As California’s cities flounder under the rising cost of public pensions, they shouldn’t expect the state to extend a hand. While Governor Jerry Brown noted in his revised budget on Friday that local governments face "even greater pressures" than the state in dealing with the expense, he said it’s not up to the state to help, Bloomberg News reported. "A lot of cities signed up for pensions they can’t afford," the term-limited governor said during a budget briefing in Sacramento. "I don’t think the state is in a position, as far as I can see, to step in the shoes of mayors and supervisors. They’re going to have to handle that themselves." Brown’s position underscores the challenges facing local governments, whose resources are more limited than that of states in addressing the rising costs of keeping promises to police officers, teachers and other civil servants. In the Golden State, some cities are seeing their payments to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System rise by double digits in just a few years. Investment losses, contributions failing to keep pace with the cost of benefits, and changes in assumptions such as mortality rates have left many public pensions across the country with less than they need to cover obligations.
