CA is certainly an offender, but not the only government tied into unsustainable pension plans. Very simply, the current pension system will not work because the inputs (money invested) does not match the outputs (pension received). Many pensions guarantee benefits that are (2-3% multiplied by the number of years worked). For example, if I make $100,000 salary for 20 years, I'd get 40% of my salary forever more (at a multiplier of 2%). Granted, there is an employer and agency contribution to the pension system, based on a % of the employee's salary. But.. to complicate matters, the salary used in this calculation is typically the highest salary earned in a career. So, if I made $50,000 for 18 years and $100,000 for 2 years, I'd still get the same amount for retirement. Like Bell, like San Diego, like just about every other city and county in CA, Solano County is in this position as well. In the early 2000's an aging board and administration passed a resolution to increase the contribution from 2% to 2.7%. Of course now, there is talk about changing it back. But until then... here are the salaries of their highest paid: http://www.thereporter.com/salarysurvey.