Hasta La Gadget!

To understand the hidden costs of one of California’s sweetest public employee perks, feast your eyes on Exhibit A: Alameda County’s top-paid public official, Susan Muranishi.

Not only did the county administrator rack up $462,000 in gross pay last year, and not only did taxpayers contribute an additional $118,000 to her retirement plan, they also picked up the bill for something Muranishi was supposed to pay: the $43,000 “employee” contribution to her pension.

It’s called the “pension pickup” — and like a rich uncle picking up the tab at a big family dinner, Bay Area taxpayers footed the bill for more than $221 million last year for the employee share of 63,000 public workers’ pension contributions. The practice undermines retirement rules that were designed to force employees to share the burden for their pensions.

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