At Transparent California, we take pride in collecting information on pension benefits across the state so that taxpayers can be informed where their dollars are being spent.

The California Pension System is utilized by millions of Californians every year and is an essential part of the retirement plan for most state employees. Unfortunately, a plan of this size lends itself to being targeted by those who wish to unfairly boost their own pension benefits without being noticed.

A recent article by The Voice of Orange County, titled “CA Treasurer Fiona Ma Helped Santa Ana Police Union Boss in His Quest for Pension Boost” outlines one such story. This is the latest in a series of events in which Gerry Serrano, the police union president for the city of Santa Ana, has attempted to strong-arm CalPERs into allowing him to include his union salary as part of his pension, which would boost his retirement payouts by tens of thousands of dollars annually.

This practice, known as “pension spiking,” would allow Serrano to receive a massive bump in his pension payouts even though the union is not a public entity.

Despite the rulings of the CalPERS board and a state judge, Serrano continues to push for these additional benefits. Keep in mind that this is the same Gerry Serrano who, as city officials put it, wants to “Burn the Place Down” in his quest to boost his pension.

Serrano is one of Santa Ana’s highest-compensated employees with total pay and benefits hitting roughly $500,000 as of 2020, according to Transparent California.

Ma recently advocated for new legislation that would allow Serrano to increase his eventual pension payouts but insisted that the measure would save the taxpayer money in the long term. She argued that it would reduce the need for the appeals process by allowing more people to benefit from pensions and save money spent on appeals.

CalPERS is a multi-billion-dollar system that makes retirement possible for millions of Californians. For the system to truly work effectively, it must be protected from those who attempt to bolster their public pension payouts despite not doing public work.

As always, you can learn more about public employee pensions at TransparentCalifornia.com.

Here at Transparent California, we take pride in collecting information on pension benefits across the state so that the taxpayer can be informed on exactly where their dollars are going. The California Pension System is utilized by millions of Californians every year and is an essential part of the retirement plan for most state employees. Unfortunately, this many beneficiaries mean that the system is often targeted by those who wish to unfairly boost their own pension benefits without being noticed.

A recent article by The Voice of Orange County, entitled “CA Treasurer Fiona Ma Helped Santa Ana Police Union Boss in His Quest for Pension Boost” outlines one such story. This is the latest in a series of events in which, Gerry Serrano, the police Union President for the city of Santa Ana has attempted to strong-arm CalPERs into allowing him to include his Union Salery as part of his Pension.

This practice, which is known as “pension spiking,” would allow Serrano to receive massive bump in his pension payouts even though his work for the union is not for a public entity. Despite the rulings of the CalPERS board and a state judge, Serrano continues to push for these new benefits. Keep in mind that this is the same Gerry Serrano that, as city officials put it, wants to “Burn the Place Down” in his quest to boost his pension.

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma recently advocated for new legislation that would allow Serrano to increase his eventual pension payouts but insisted that the measure would end up saving the taxpayer money in the long term. She argues that it will reduce the need for the appeals process by allowing more people to benefit from the pension and save money spent on appeals.

CalPERS is a multi-billion-dollar system that makes retirement possible for millions of Californians. For the system to truly work effectively, it must be protected from those who would benefit from a public pension despite not doing public work.

As always, you can learn more about public employee pensions at TransparentCalifornia.com