Burbank will save $643,000 over the next two years after the City Council this week approved a labor agreement with Burbank firefighters that would require them to pay their full employee pension contribution in return for a 5.5% raise.
After three years of negotiations, during which Gov. Jerry Brown enacted a pension reform law to scale back the public cost of paying into the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, the city and the labor group reached a deal, which the council unanimously approved Tuesday.
By the end of the month, firefighters will get a 1% raise and will have to cover roughly a quarter of their CalPERS member contribution, which is 2% of their salary. The city currently covers the employee pension contribution, which is 9% of their salary, but firefighters will over time pick up more and more of their pension costs until June 2015, when they will be responsible for the entire portion.
