By Beth Duckett and Craig Harris | The Arizona Republic
The price tag for Southeast Valley cities’ contributions to the pensions of police officers and firefighters has more than quadrupled as taxpayers have been forced to prop up the retirement system in the past decade.
Mesa and other cities are paying millions of dollars more to bankroll the retirements of employees in the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, which has been damaged by crushing investment losses, guaranteed cost-of-living increases and fewer employees paying into the system, according to interviews and records obtained by The Arizona Republic.
Those pension contributions are a big part of the escalating costs that have made it harder for Southeast Valley cities to balance budgets as revenues plummeted in the Great Recession. To make ends meet, cities have resorted to cutting public services, raising taxes, and scaling back or not hiring as many employees — including police officers and firefighters.
Despite legislative efforts to reform the system, taxpayers have been on the hook to pump additional money into the retirement system, which is underfunded by $4.27 billion.
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