City employees will now be able to defer until their retirement income taxes on salary deductions for contributions to their pension funds.
Under the terms of a resolution approved Tuesday by the City Council, employees would pay their contribution to the city, essentially reimbursing the city's outlay to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), City Manager John Pietig said.
The Internal Revenue Code considers pension deductions from salaries to be employer contributions, but only for tax-reporting purposes.
"This was discussed during contract negotiations with the firefighters; this is just a little housekeeping," said Gavin Curran, director of the finance and ITT for the city. "But the [deferment] would apply to all city employees."