Pension Withholdings Proper, Judge Rules

Ventura County's pension administrators acted properly in excusing the county from making annual payments to an employee retirement trust during a period of over-funding, a judge decided this week.

Retirement administrators allowed the county to skip payments from 1998 to 2004, when the pension system had more money than it needed to pay all current and future obligations.

A retiree group sued, alleging that the county should have paid about $100 million and set aside surplus earnings to expand benefits. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick H. Bysshe ruled against the group Tuesday.