132,440 / 64.26% Yes votes ...... 73,653 / 35.74% No votes

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City police and firefighters are members of the City's retirement system. Generally, police and firefighters can retire at age 50. Police and firefighters who retire at age 50 receive, for each year of service, 2 percent of the salary they earned at the time of retirement. Police and firefighters who retire at age 55 receive, for each year of service, 2.7 percent of the salary they earned at the time of retirement. The maximum retirement benefit police and firefighters may receive is 75 percent of their salary at the time of retirement.

The Proposal:

Proposition H is a Charter amendment that would change the formula for police and firefighter retirement benefits. Police and firefighters who retire at age 50 would receive, for each year of service, 2.4 percent of the salary earned at the time of retirement. Police and firefighters who retire at age 55 would receive, for each year of service, 3 percent of the salary earned at the time of retirement. The maximum retirement benefit police and firefighters could receive would be 90 percent of the salary at the time of retirement. Police and firefighters who retire before January 1, 2003 would not be eligible for this increase.

However, no cash would be required since the City's Retirement System currently has a large surplus. While the cost of this proposal would reduce that surplus, the City nonetheless should not be required to make employer contributions to the Retirement System for at least the next ten years. The Amendment also provides that if the City is required to make employer contributions to the Retirement System, the City will negotiate a cost-sharing agreement with the police officers and firefighters to cover all or part of the cost of providing the additional retirement benefits through employee contributions.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No

A YES vote of this measure means:

If you vote "Yes," you want to make these changes to police and firefighter retirement benefits.

A NO vote of this measure means:

If you vote "No," you do not want to make these changes to police and firefighter retirement benefits.

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