When it comes to policing in Los Angeles, the LAPD isn’t the only show in town.
The Sheriff’s Department and municipal cops handle the county, but even within the city of Los Angeles there are three other law enforcement agencies in addition to the LAPD that patrol city parks, the port and the airport.
Voters will soon decide whether some members of these smaller departments should have access to the same retirement benefits enjoyed by the vast majority of the city’s other public safety employees.
If the ballot measure known as Charter Amendment FF passes, about 460 officers employed by the Police, Airport, Harbor, and Recreation and Parks departments would switch into the more generous Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions plan, or LAFPP.
These officers are currently covered by the general pension system for municipal workers, Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, or LACERS. All other city personnel except police and fire department employees — from sanitation workers to City Hall officials — are on this plan.
The measure would add to the city’s pension burden, at a time L.A. is facing a financial squeeze, thanks in large part to lower-than-expected tax revenues and higher salary costs — due in part to a pay raise for LAPD officers.
Taxpayers would be on the hook for $23 million at the outset and about $1 million per year afterward.
Two agencies that operate separately from the city budget — the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports — would foot another $86 million, plus roughly $6.3 million annually.