03/29/2024

Los Angeles Daily New

Workers who retire from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power enjoy a higher monthly pension, on average, than retired public employees from the city and county, according to an audit released this week by City Controller Ron Galperin.

LADWP retirees received an average monthly pension payment of $5,212 in the fiscal year ending July 1, 2015, the audit said.

That figure is higher than the $4,023 average monthly payment for other city retirees and the $3,881 pension amount per month for retired county workers, amounts that are used as comparisons in the audit performed by contractor, Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting.

But while the LADWP’s pension benefits on average surpass those of other local government agencies, they are still slightly lower than the pension payments received by police and firefighters. The average monthly pension is just shy of the $5,309 monthly payments for Los Angeles police and fire department employees, according to the audit.

The analysis is required every five years, and allows city officials to monitor the pension system at the LADWP, a separate entity that is ultimately overseen by city officials.

The audit report comes as watchdog organization, Transparent California, released data on individual pension payments received by LADWP’s more than 7,000 retirees in 2016. The data, posted on the organization’s website, showed LADWP issued at least $435 million in pension checks in 2016.

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