A Superior Court judge accepted a settlement in one of San Diego's pension cases yesterday, months after the city and a retiree came to a tentative agreement.
The lawsuit called for the city to pay back what it owed the pension system after nearly a decade of underfunding. As part of the settlement, first reached in June, the city agreed to pay the retirement fund $173 million, which includes the debt – at least $140 million – plus interest.
The city has paid $100 million of the judgment. The remainder is due within five years.
The parties hit a couple of speed bumps. In August, attorney Michael Conger, who represents the retiree who sued, William McGuigan, accused the city of altering the terms of the proposed judgment. Conger and the city continued negotiating, and the City Council agreed to terms days later.
In addition, two groups of city employees, including the San Diego Police Officers Association, objected to parts of the settlement, but the court ruled that their concerns were “without merit.”
The pension system has a deficit of at least $1.43 billion, in part because of the underfunding and benefit increases granted at the same time.
