Curry’s strategy to prevent overspending is a ballot measure that would require voter approval of any increases to employee pensions that raise the city and taxpayers’ share of the cost.
Pensions and their soaring costs increase tension between government workers and the elected officials who oversee them.
A struggle between Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach and sheriff’s deputies over pensions has made Orange County a center of attention.
If Newport’s council puts Curry’s issue on the ballot, “this is going to be ground zero of a statewide war,” Newport Beach Firefighters Assn. President Jeff Boyles said. “We don’t want to go there.”
The city’s public-safety unions, which endorse and contribute to council candidates, would oppose the measure, if only because they think it weakens their collective bargaining rights.
“I am opposed to his [Curry’s] proposal philosophically based on the fact that we have a representative form of government,” Boyles said. “I don’t want it to set the standard for city employees up and down the state.”
And Curry’s council colleagues may be hard to convince when he makes his pitch Tuesday.
Mayor Steve Rosansky agreed with Boyles that asking voters to weigh in on something as complex as employee negotiations is doling out the council’s responsibilities to the public.
“I don’t think you could possibly educate residents enough about contract terms,” Rosansky said. “Basically what you’ll wind up getting is just people making a gut-level decision.”
And Newport appears to have little to gain from what would likely be a costly battle.
The 3% at 50 retirement benefit is the norm for public safety workers, and Newport’s all have it.
