The Facts About Measure F

More Debt | Higher Costs | Less Services

Measure F Retroactively Increases Public Pensions!

Four years ago, San Jose voters approved Measure B to reform public pensions and reign-in skyrocketing costs. Now the city and the labor unions crafted an agreement behind closed doors to RETROACTIVELY increase pensions for over 1300 city employees. These are precisely the kind of retroactive increases that Measure B prohibited and city leaders are promising to prohibit again in Measure F - but they are not talking about the retroactive increases buried in this measure!

Pension Benefit Increase:

25% Increase

Increases Retirement Benefits by Nearly 25%

Retiree Annual Increase:

Increases Cost of Living Adjustments a Whopping 33%

City Costs Increase:

City Pension Contribution Rates Will Skyrocket by 36%

Measure F Immediately Creates Nearly $10 MILLION in Additional Debt

Somebody has to pay for these retroactive increases: the taxpayers! Measure F creates Millions of dollars in taxpayer debt - that must be paid back with interest, on top of the $179 Million in annual interest taxpayers already pay!

Retroactive Pension Increases

Retroactive Pension Increases for 1,300 employees will add and immediate debt of over $8 Million, plus interest, which will add $600,000 a year to the city budget for 20 years.

New Retiree Benefit

Thousands of employees who have already retired will get a new Inflation Protection benefit that creates an immediate debt of over $3 Million and adds $780,000 to the city budget each year.

The Mayor and City Council Didn't Want You to Vote on This Measure!

This measure had no public input in its drafting. Public union bosses and city leaders negotiated in secret, then tried to implement it through a questionable court action and without a vote of the people as required by law.

It took a court action by the Silicon Valley Taxpayers' Association to force the city to put this to a vote. Why didn't they want you to vote on it?







Measure F is Not About Public Safety!

The Mayor and Police Chief keep telling you Measure F is needed to ensure public safety and for hiring police officers. What they are NOT telling you is that these retroactive increases are nearly all for non-public safety employees! The overwhelming majority of city employees - 1,200 employees - receiving these large increases in pension benefits are NOT police officers or firefighters.

How many services will have to be cut to pay for these increases?

Under Measure F, New San Jose Employees will Have the Richest Pensions in the State

CalPERS
Pension

City Manager

A city manager's salary is approx. $255,000 per year. Under the reformed CalPERS pension plan, a city manager has a cap on their pensionable compensation of $140,424 - a 70% pension will provide a maximum pension of $98,296

Police Chief

A police chief's salary is approx. $240,000 per year. Under the reformed CalPERS pension plan, a city manager has a cap on their pensionable compensation of $140,424 - an 80% pension will provide a maximum pension of $112,339

Measure F
Pension

City Manager

A city manager's salary is approx. $255,000 per year. Under Measure F, a 70% pension will provide a maximum pension of $178,500

$80,000 a year LARGER retirement!
Police Chief

A police chief's salary is approx. $240,000 per year. Under Measure F, an 80% pension will provide a maximum pension of $192,000

$80,000 a year LARGER retirement!



Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association is dedicated to protecting the rights and interests of the taxpayers of Silicon Valley against the over–reaching and over–spending of government.

We invite you to join us in that mission!

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Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure F

By

San Jose City leaders want you to believe that Measure F is about public safety – but it is not.

  • Nearly 90% of the city employees receiving RETROACTIVE PENSION INCREASES under this measure are not police officers or firefighters.

City leaders want you to believe that we have fewer police officers today because of pension reform – but we do not.

  • Since 2008, the mayor and city council has had to eliminate 285 sworn police positions to balance the budget – because SKYROCKETING PENSION costs have been taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from services.

City leaders want you to believe that that Measure F makes the pension system more sustainable – but it does not.

  • Measure F will allow employees back into the old retirement system that we know was UNSUSTAINABLE.

City leaders want you to believe that Measure F will prevent the city from making promises it cannot keep – but it does not.

  • Instead it continues to make promises that the taxpayers cannot afford to keep.

City leaders want you to believe that the pensions under Measure F will provide large savings – but they do not.

  • The city’s pension contribution rates will INCREASE by 36% for many employees.
  • San Jose is already saving the $40 Million claimed by Measure F’s proponents.

70% of San Jose voters approved Measure B in 2012 to provide fair, sustainable pensions. This measure undoes that. Higher pension costs mean one thing: MORE CUTS TO CITY SERVICES!

Don’t go backward.  Vote no on Measure F