Pensions

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The Week in Public Finance: Court Strikes Down Chicago Pension Reforms, Pennsylvania Ends Budget Standoff and More

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A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
BY  | MARCH 24, 2016

What Will Chicago Do Now?

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unconstitutional Chicago’s attempt to reduce its massive pension liabilities.

The decision, which affirms lower court rulings, doesn't come as a big surprise given that the state's highest court issued a similar ruling 10 months ago regarding Illinois’ proposed pension cuts. Still, it’s a blow to Chicago and its mayor, Rahm Emanuel, who had hoped the cuts would save the city hundreds of millions of dollars. Chicago is short $20 billion across five pension plans (including public schools), and the poor financial health of the retirement system has resulted in downgrades from credit ratings agencies.

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The Week in Public Finance: Good and Bad News for Pensions and for Atlantic City

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A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
BY  | MARCH 18, 2016

Pension Plan Peril

The stock market has been kind to pension plans in recent years. But that ended last year: Pension plan returns for fiscal 2015, which mostly closed on June 30, were meager. Many were below 5 percent, lower than their target rate of 7 or 8 percent. To make matters worse, that was before the stock market turmoil that began late last summer, which means that when most pensions close out fiscal 2016 at the end of June, their returns will again fall short.

The two-year hit will effectively wipe out the funding improvements seen in 2013 and 2014, predicts Moody’s Investors Service. In a report released Thursday, the agency analyzed 56 state and local government pension plans with total assets of more than $2 trillion. The report says that under the most optimistic scenario, where investment returns average 5 percent for the year, plans’ overall liabilities will still increase by 10 percent. This is because returns are falling short.

The most pessimistic scenario? That plans report an investment loss of 10 percent. In those cases, Moody’s says that could bump up liabilities by more than half, forcing governments to have to put in more money over the next few years than was previously forecast. With a number of governments already balking at their pension costs, that’s going to be a problem. A little over half of the plans Moody’s sampled already aren’t receiving their full payments from their contributing governments.

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The Week in Public Finance: Pension Buyouts, a New Way to Pay for Family Leave and More

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A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
BY  | MARCH 11, 2016

San Jose’s Never-Ending Pension Battle

A former San Jose, Calif., councilman who was instrumental in convincing voters to approve pension changes in that city four years ago is now filing papers in court to protect his legislation.

Pete Constant, who's now a senior fellow with the libertarian-leaning Reason Foundation, is challenging San Jose officials’ request pending before a judge to strike down Measure B. City officials are now in talks with unions to abandon it in favor of other changes they're negotiating that wouldn't require voter approval.

By doing so, Constant said in a press release Wednesday, the city will “abandon its obligation to defend Measure B and is poised to sell-out the voters.”

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The Week in Public Finance: Atlantic City’s Intervention, New Pay-for-Success Projects and Arizona's Pension Reform

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A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
BY  | FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Intervention in Atlantic City

Top New Jersey lawmakers have finally announced details of their plan to take over Atlantic City’s finances.The proposal was unveiled this week in a state Senate bill that gives more power to state financial overseers.

Atlantic City’s tax revenues have dropped dramatically in recent years as multiple casino closures have dried up the city’s main industry and revenue source.

"The intervention plan will enable the state and the city to work together to accomplish what Atlantic City can't do on its own," said Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a co-sponsor of the bill. "The city's fiscal crisis is severe and immediate. ... The state has to take a more direct role."

The bill would expand the role of the state's Local Finance Board chief so that they could not only renegotiate the struggling city's debt but also dissolve or consolidate city agencies and departments, share services with Atlantic County and sell city assets.

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The Week in Public Finance: Contradictory Pension Reports, Brewing Pension Battles and Recession Worries

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A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
BY  | FEBRUARY 12, 2016

Contradictory Pension Reports

Two groups published studies this week looking at whether traditional pensions or 401(k) plans are better for teachers and came up with … exactly opposite conclusions.The University of California at Berkeley looked at the state’s teacher pension system (CalSTRS) and found that for the “vast majority” of California teachers (six out of seven), a defined-benefit pension provides more secure retirement income than a 401(k)-style plan.

The study also concluded that pensions reduce teacher turnover, “which is better for students, reduces costly and time-consuming training, and increases teacher effectiveness.” It portrayed 401(k) and cash balance plans as bad for teachers because they place more risk on the retiree as their final benefit is not defined. Such plans also decrease the incentive for early and mid-career teachers to stay on the job, the report said.

Separately, TeacherPensions.org ran an analysis of teacher pensions in Illinois. It found that traditional pensions are not a good deal for teachers because they disproportionately favor those who stick around for 30 or 35 years, “at the expense of everyone else.

Even with Stock Market's Rise, Many Pensions Haven't Recovered from Recession

BY  | DECEMBER 17, 2014

This fall, Jim Carroll appeared before the Kentucky legislature's Public Pension Oversight Board and testified about the state of the nation’s worst-funded retirement plan. Over the last three years, said the co-founder of Kentucky Government Retirees, the Kentucky Employees Retirement System has exceeded its assumed rate of return -- yet it lost more than half a billion dollars in that time.

In fact, the plan has been in a virtual freefall for years. At the end of the 2013 fiscal year, the plan had $3.3 billion in net assets -- that's roughly half of its peak value just before the Great Recession. The gap makes it the pension system that has the farthest to go to recover the assets it lost in the stock market crash, according to a Governing analysis of 146 larger pension plans across the country.