CBS Bay Area-

The Alameda County Grand Jury says in its annual report that the city of Oakland’s unfunded retiree healthcare benefits are an $860 million “crisis” that is starting to undermine the city’s fiscal health and could cause its bond ratings to be downgraded.

The panel says that Oakland, like many other public agencies, “faces a fiscal crisis because elected officials did not understand the implications, including future costs, of the promises they were making” for retiree healthcare benefits and pension costs.

City officials chose to pay only current costs of retiree healthcare as billed instead of putting enough money away to fund future healthcare benefits for active employees, the Grand Jury alleges.

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