L.A. budget chief briefs mayor on pensions

Miguel Santana, L.A.'s city administrative officer, is presenting a 401(k)-style pension option that would be cheaper than the current defined benefit plan. Other items on today's agenda include looking at ways to reduce pension payments, raise the retirement age, and boost contributions for future hires. "What we currently have is not sustainable," Santana tells Bloomberg's Chris Palmeri in a profile. "What I tell the unions is, 'If you want to have a pension plan when you retire, the framework in which we have it has to change.'"

Even with more labor concessions and private outsourcing, city deficits will persist because revenue won't return to 2007 levels until perhaps the next decade, Santana said. "We managed to survive, but we still have a long way to go," he said. "It's a huge task and it keeps me up at night."