Peter Q. Davis, a former bank president who ran for San Diego mayor in 2000 and 2004, has resigned from the city's pension board, citing differences with Mayor Jerry Sanders over a recent estimate of the pension deficit.
Sanders, who appointed Davis to the board in March, was surprised by the decision and did not ask him to resign, the mayor's spokesman, Fred Sainz, said. Davis still had more than two years remaining in his term.
In an e-mail Monday morning to pension staff members, Davis said he disagreed with the mayor over the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System's recent actuarial report that showed its deficit had decreased from $1.43 billion to $1 billion. The report also called on the city to pay $138 million into the system this year to meet its annual obligation.
Those numbers are lower than city officials had anticipated, and Sanders urged caution, saying he plans to seek an analysis from his own pension specialist before accepting the figures as accurate.
Sainz said Davis had recently taken the mayor to task privately for questioning the actuarial report and accused him of making the board look bad.
Since he served at Sanders' pleasure, Davis said he didn't feel he should continue serving on the board as it will soon consider options for whether the city's payments should be spread over 15, 20 or 25 years.
“I believe we would benefit by having the support of our elected officials, who should be recognizing the job SDCERS is now doing, by complimenting the corporation, not criticizing it, and certainly not by attempting to usurp its authority in their public statements,” Davis wrote.
Davis did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.
Sanders is searching for a replacement, but also needs to fill three additional spots on the 13-member board when term limits expire March 31.
Craig Gustafson: (619) 293-1884; craig.gustafson@uniontrib.com
