Letter to the Editor, June 17th, Mercury News:

The California Department of Finance is proposing civil penalties against Santa Clara County for improperly reporting student enrollment, and misallocating property tax revenues that should have gone to K-12 schools. The County was notified of the accounting error in January, and the State has requested $145 million to correct the error. But the County has already spent the money, and now needs to cut spending to meet the State’s demand.

One area County Supervisors should consider cutting is the “excess benefit plan” which funds pensions for county employees that exceed the IRS limit of $230,000 a year.  In contrast, my father’s teacher’s pension from SJUSD is $43,241 and the maximum social security benefit (retiring age 66) is $36,132. I find it ironic that the County, which is responsible for caring for the poorest people in our community, funds pensions over $230,000 a year. It’s time to end this excessive benefit plan.

Pierluigi Oliverio