401K Employer Match - Benchmarking Data

Most fed, state and local government agencies are still on a defined benefit plan as unsustainable as they might be.

In CA, where I am located, most safety personnel are still on a 3% @ age 50 plan. Non-safety personnel are frequently at 2% or 2.5% at age 55 up to 60, depending on the jurisdiction.

Due to the recent passage of pension reform, new hires will have to be contributing half the cost of such a plan. But, this had no effect on existing personnel.

At my agency, we have 36 employees and a deferred comp plan. Contributing 4% to 25% of one's salary up to the IRS allowed maximu to the deferred comp plan initiates a 12% to 14% of salary contribution by the agency to a defined contribution pension and profit sharing plan. Vesting is 100% from day one.

Sadly, this too is excessive and unsustainable. I could not recommend it to anyone. However, I am prohibited from bringing this topic up outside of the executive suite. Our general manager is on contract as is often the case in local public agencies. His pension contribution by the agency is 25% of salary! And, he's only a few years away from retirement. Once could say he has an inherent bias against our cutting back on this benefit to something sustainable over the long run.