San Bernardino, CalPERS ink interim agreement; negotiations continue

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, June 18 – The City of San Bernardino, Calif., recently reached an interim agreement with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) “regarding various items that will help form the basis for a plan of adjustment,” according to a status report filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

As a result of the interim agreement, the city said the parties will further continue the briefing schedule related to an eligibility appeal, and San Bernardino will make some payments to CalPERS on deferred amounts owed.

The terms of the agreement are subject to mediation confidentiality, the report said.

The city said it has also been in negotiations with city retirees and employee unions and met with representatives of Ambac and holders of San Bernardino’s pension bonds.

If no agreement is reached with the unions, the city said it will ask the court to implement a last, best and final offer through a contract rejection motion.

However, San Bernardino said it “is not yet ready to concede defeat in its efforts to achieve a consensual resolution with the objecting unions.”

“The city’s proposals are not easy for the objecting unions to accept, to say the least, but they are absolutely necessary for the rehabilitation of the city,” the report said.

A status conference is scheduled for June 19.

San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 1, 2012. The Chapter 9 case number is 12-28006.

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