County pays down pension liability, saves nearly $30 million for taxpayers
The
The board also approved the transfer of
According to a
But recent court cases have reinforced the Arizona Constitution language that protects changes to pension benefits, and encourages entities like
"We've chosen to fund these pension obligations without taking taxpayer money to fund them," said
The action the board took stems from a couple perspectives, Babbott said.
"First and foremost is that when public safety personnel became employees of the county, we made a commitment to them, and that commitment was that the county has the privilege and the obligation to provide them with a pension," he said.
While every department in the county has a pension fund, the only department this decision relates to is public safety, which Babbott said was the most drastically underfunded.
Each pension system is different, he said, and there are normally both public and private obligations.
"I can't compare this pool to other employee pools," he said. "But this one went from 25 percent funded to 71 percent funded, and that reality saves significant long-term, ongoing money for the taxpayer."
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