Mapping the $100,000+ California Public Employee Pensions at CalPERS Costing Taxpayers $3.0B

November 26, 2016

Forbes Contributor - I cover the “daily greed” of national, state, and local politics.



In California, according to data captured by OpenTheBooks.com, the Top 10 All-Time CalPERS public employee pensions start at $390,485 per year.

The California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) is the USA’s largest pension fund with $301 billion in assets. It’s also a lucrative transfer mechanism helping 1,251 local governments confer ‘highly compensated’ pensions to tens of thousands of public employees. Updated numbers displayed at OpenTheBooks.com show there is a $2.8 billion annual cost to payout 21,862 six-figure public-sector retirees via CalPERS.

It’s a massive payout equivalent to the combined income tax payments of nearly 1.6 million individual California taxpayers.

So which CA governments conferred the most $100,000 plus pensions through CalPERS?

Using our interactive mapping tool below, quickly review (by last employer ZIP code) the 21,862 public employee retirees at CalPERS who pulled-down a pension of $100,000 or more. Just click on a pin and use the scroll bar to review the results rendered in the chart beneath the map.

The ‘Big Dog’ units of government conferring the most $100,000 retirement pensions include the California Highway Patrol (1,066); Santa Clara County (836); City of Oakland (509); CA Forestry and Fire Protection (476); Riverside County (461); City of Long Beach (351); CA Dept. of Justice (280); CA Corrections, Paroles and Com (275); CA Corrections (268); and the City of Anaheim (253).

No one has hit the pension jackpot quite like the sworn officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). Of the 1,066 six-figure retirees, their average pension is $10,192 per month or $122,304 annually. On top of that, there are the 6,350 active employees at CHP averaging $115,000 in pay with taxpayers chipping in another $48,300 in pension contributions. Therefore, each officer costs $163,000 in pay and pension costs alone.

Meanwhile, Riverside County has 461 six-figure retirees and the top 12 retirements each exceed $200,000 per year. Last year, the assistant sheriff made $653,025 by cashing in banks of unused benefits, i.e. leave.

Pension envy in California is real. The hard working private sector doesn’t have benefits even remotely close to government workers.


It’s no surprise that Oakland is a sanctuary city for highly compensated public employees. It’s ranked third most in $100,000 pensions with its top 509 retirements averaging $126,000 per year. But, soon, the pension problems worsen: Oakland pays 1,251 active employees more than $100,000.

We discovered a ‘$1 Million General Manager’ position at the Los Angeles Sanitary District (LASD). In 2007, LASD General Manager James Stahl retired on a pension of $303,420. His replacement, Stephen Maguin, retired on a pension of $345,408 in 2012. Today, the new ‘General Manager’ earns a salary of $336,972. So it takes $1 million to fund a general manager position where there’s two retirees and only one is working!

In many cases the system legalized corruption. Public pensions are not only for government employees, but are also for special non-government and private associations clouted into the public pension plan at CalPERS. Incredibly, taxpayers guarantee and help fund the pensions but have no say over the salary spiking that pads lifetime pensions (i.e. huge end-of-career raises that increase lifetime pension payouts).

For example, the California School Boards Association is a self-described non-profit organization yet a private entity muscled into the public pension plan. In 2010, Executive Director Scott Plotkin was investigated and exposed for paying out a $175,000 ‘bonus’ which spiked his pay to $540,000 (2008). In an attempt to save face he retired, but now taxpayers guarantee his lifetime pension largess of $148,620.

This is the new ‘CalPERS Effect,’ in which the system itself became an outright lobbyist for higher member benefits. Now, even small towns and agencies are gaming the system for personal gain.

West Hollywood – home of the Sunset Strip – contracts its library, police, and fire protection from the county. Although it occupies less than two square miles, it still employs 69 staffers with salaries over $100,000. In 2010, the city allowed its assistant manager, Joan English, to retire on a $177,048 pension. Immediately, she was rehired on a ‘temporary’ basis in the same position.

Another example: the California Bar Association (CBA) pays six-figures to 133 currently active employees, plus there are 13 CBA retirees on $100,000 plus pensions. The top pension is Herbert Rosenthal at $181,632. Retiring in 1998, Rosenthal’s career spanned 35-years, but he’s already been retired for 18-years.

The golden state of government pension largess just might collapse under its own weight. Recently, CalPERS projected that there’s up to a one in three chance of entering a ‘crisis point’ of doomsday underfunding sometime in the next 30 years.

Still, there may some hope and relief coming soon. In August, a San Francisco based state appellate court held that reasonable benefit cuts are permissible in the pension system.

As is the case in pensions systems across the country, CalPERS shows that handing out lavish benefits to everyone – or the many – creates retirement security for no one.

Note: Recently at Forbes, we showcased the 220,000 currently active California public employees making over $100,000 and costing taxpayers $35 billion each year.