* San Bernardino, Calpers at odds over money owed
* City?s bankruptcy filing sets up Wall Street fight with
Calpers
* Wildly different pension estimates will likely lead to
litigation
By Tim Reid
Aug 30 (Reuters) ? A high-stakes showdown pitting
California?s public employee pension fund against Wall Street
bond firms in bankrupt San Bernardino, California, could be
further complicated by wildly disparate estimates of how much
the city owes for its retirees.
San Bernardino, a city of about 210,000 near Los Angeles
that filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 1, has listed the California
Public Employees? Retirement System (Calpers) as its largest
creditor, with unfunded pension obligations totaling $143.3
million. But Calpers, in response to an inquiry from Reuters,
pegged the debt at $319.5 million.
Experts say the dramatically different calculations of San
Bernardino?s debt to Calpers will likely lead to litigation
between the two entities, unless the city quickly agrees to the
retirement system?s figure.
Calpers is the largest pension system in the U.S. and serves
many California cities and counties, including the city of
Stockton, which is also in bankruptcy. It has long argued that
pension contributions cannot be touched even in a bankruptcy.
But firms that insure municipal bonds have strenuously
objected to the idea that pension payments should come ahead of
bond payments. They have already gone to court on the issue in
Stockton and are expected to do the same in San Bernardino.
The outcome of how Calpers and bondholders are treated as
creditors in the two cities? bankruptcies ? and whether Calpers
receives preferential treatment ? will have broad implications
for local governments around the country that are struggling to
balance their budgets amid soaring employee retirement costs.
The day after San Bernardino?s filing the city?s mayor,
Patrick Morris, told Reuters the city was bankrupt because it
was buried under pension debt.
San Bernardino?s unfunded obligation to Calpers is the
amount the city would have to pay to the organization to cover
all current and future pension obligations if the city had to
settle those overnight.
At the request of Reuters, Calpers analyzed its database and
said that San Bernardino?s unfunded obligations to the agency
were more that double the city?s assessment ? $319.5 million.
Calpers?s figure was split between $187.1 million for the
pension costs of San Bernardino?s safety workers ? essentially
its police and firefighters ? and $132.4 million for the city?s
non-safety workforce.
A Calpers official said it appears that San Bernardino had
used an ?actuarial? value in determining its unfunded pension
obligation, while the pension fund said it uses the current
market value to make its calculation.
An actuarial value is a long-term, projected calculation
that factors in predicted value of assets, potential future
returns on investments and other economic data in determining
what a city?s pension obligation will be.
Officials at Calpers insist that the correct method to use
for the purposes of the bankruptcy filing is the much higher
?market value? calculation.
Karol Denniston, a San Francisco lawyer who helped draft
California?s bankruptcy process law, said whatever method San
Bernardino and Calpers used to calculate pension obligations,
the fact they are so wildly different spelled trouble.
When it comes to negotiating pension costs during the
bankruptcy, Denniston said, ?if Calpers views the number that
differently, that is going to be an impediment to any sort of
settlement. That claim amount will get litigated.?
Morris, San Bernardino?s mayor, agreed. ?There will be
trouble if you can?t agree on the basic facts,? he said.
Morris referred Reuters to the city?s finance office for an
explanation of how it reached its pension cost figure. Repeated
calls there, and to the city manager?s office, were not
returned. Calls to the bankruptcy attorney representing the city
also went unanswered.
The two California bankruptcy cases are being closely
watched by investors and markets. They will be major test cases
of whether cities in financial trouble can be allowed to renege
on their bond debt and pension obligations ? and in what order.
Richard Larkin, senior vice president and director of credit
analysis at bond underwriting firm HJ Sims, said he expects
bondholders to take on Calpers in the case of San Bernardino,
which could lead to large scale litigation.
?As a bondholder, I?m going to want to keep other creditors?
numbers as low as possible,? Larkin said. ?The other creditors
are going to try and overturn Calpers?s claim. I would say
Calpers?s calculations are wrong.?
Litigation between Calpers and San Bernardino?s other
creditors, especially bondholders, was likely, Larkin said,
because the case will have huge implications and set precedent
for any future city bankruptcies.
Already in Stockton, two bond insurers are arguing that the
city?s failure to ask for concessions from Calpers showed the
city had not negotiated in good faith with other creditors and
its bankruptcy request should not be granted because it does not
touch pensions.
In a statement, Calpers argued that California law dictates
that it be given ?priority? over bond creditors and that
municipalities must meet their obligations to the pension system
in full.
?Simply put, Calpers is an arm of the State of California
and different laws apply to the relationship between Calpers and
a municipality,? Calpers said.
?Although bondholders and bond insurers have argued that
they are ?similarly situated? with Calpers and its members, this
is not true.?
John Moorlach, chairman of the Orange County Board of
Supervisors and one of the officials who oversaw that California
county?s bankruptcy in 1994 ? at the time the largest U.S.
county to go bankrupt ? said bondholders would be ?nuts? not to
take on Calpers now.
?The bondholders have got to take on Calpers,? Moorlach
said. ?If they don?t Calpers will just run them over.?
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