Why Ventura Residents Were Kept From Voting on Pension Reform in the Midterm Elections

"The taxpayers bear a large burden…for the government employees' pension and these pensions are much more generous than is available to them," says Richard Thomson, president of the Ventura County Taxpayers Association (VCTA). "The question you have to ask is what's so special about government employees that they shouldn't have to assume some of their own risk—like the taxpayer—for their retirement."

On Tuesday, voters across the county will venture to polling stations for the midterm elections. In Ventura County, California, residents will be able to have their say on a variety of local issues, but there is one initiative they won't be able to cast their ballot for—that measure is pension reform. 

Like so many retirement systems across the country, Ventura has seen it's pension fund go from having a healthy surplus to being over a billion dollars in debt. To avoid having their county become the next Stockton or Detroit, the Ventura County Taxpayers Association crafted a reform measure that would move the county from a defined benefit to a defined contribution system. 

But shortly after it was approved to appear on the ballot, a local judge preemptively ruled the measure illegal and ordered it stricken from the 2014 election—thus ending Ventura's hopes to change their costly pension system. 

According to the judge's ruling, even though voters elected to create a pension fund decades ago, the law provides them no way to exit the system through a vote. Reformers would have to either repeal or amend the law through state legislation to change their costly pension programs. 

The decision was a setback for the VCTA, who had hoped a midterm victory could expedite change to VCERA's growing mountain of debt. Taxpayers pay $153 million per year to the pension system—that's triple the number they paid out over a decade ago. In the next five years, that number is expected to climb to $226 million.

"When you look at compensation and pensions…we're right up there if not higher than anybody else," states Bill Wilson, a member of the VCTA who has also served on the county retirement board for over 16 years. 

The reform would have enacted a defined contribution plan whereby the county would contribute four percent for general county employees and 11 percent for public safety workers. The measure would have only applied to new employees hired after July 2015. The Reason Foundation—which publishes Reason TV—provided analysis of the reform for the VCTA and estimated that the measure would save the county $460 million over the next 15 years and would reduce pension liabilities by $1.8 billion. 

While the measure was wildly popular with local residents, labor groups vehemently opposed reform. They turned out in large numbers to county board meetings to voice their opposition and even showed up at signature drives to intimidate people from signing the petition to place reform on the ballot. 

Though the measure won't appear on this year's ballot, the VCTA will continue to push for statewide reform. Growing public support for reform and recent court rulings that may allow cities like Stockton and Detroit to restructure their pension debt could be the tipping point necessary to bring about change. 

"Once people realize what is at stake here, they're going to support it," says Wilson. 

Approximately 11 minutes.

Produced by Alexis Garcia. Camera by Garcia, Paul Detrick, and Alex Manning. Music by MobyGratis, Incompetech, and Free Music Archive.org. 

Go to http://Reason.com/reasontv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube Channel to be notified when new videos go live.