Coronado Faces Rising Retiree Costs

Coronado is one of 13 cities in San Diego County that have a combined unfunded retiree health care liability of $45 million, according to a report by a regional taxpayers group.

The study was made possible by recent changes to public accounting rules that give increased insight into a category called “Other Post-Employment Benefits,” which mostly are used for retired employees' health care coverage.

The $45 million figure represents 13 percent of the cities' estimated
payroll, according to the report by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.

Funding of the benefit needs to be increased or the cities will eventually have to cover their liabilities with funds that would otherwise be alloted for basic services.

“These benefits present significant future financial burdens for
governments not adequately prepared to deal with them,” said Lani Lutar, the association's president and CEO. “With health care costs projected to continue to rise nationwide, the situation is only going to become more challenging and costly if elected officials, management and employee unions don't come to grips with them now.”

Aside from Coronado, the study included Imperial Beach, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Encinitas, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, National City, Oceanside, San
Marcos, Santee and Solana Beach.

The city and county of San Diego were not included in the report. San Diego has drawn attention for several years because of its unfunded pension and retiree health liabilities.

Del Mar, Escondido, Poway and Vista do not offer retiree health coverage.

The SDCTA suggested that retiree healthcare be reduced to a level that
can be 100 percent funded – possibly by barring spouses or family members from receiving the benefits and capping taxpayer contributions to premiums –and enrolling new workers into different plans.

City News Service contributed to this report.