Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Fresno County, CA , pension shortfalls...again

The Fresno Bee reports. Some key highlights from the retirement board meeting of Sep 2,2009:

"The board has a number of complicated options to consider, but generally the question is how soon the county will make up for last year's market losses.

Some retirement board members say it is financially irresponsible to delay the costs. But county supervisors say they can't afford higher pension payments.

"The county is in a very tenuous situation," said Supervisor Phil Larson, also a retirement board member.

Under the existing method for calculating contributions, the county can expect to pay $158 million, about 25% more than this year's $127 million contribution, Retirement Administrator Roberto Peña said. The estimated contribution equates to roughly half the county's discretionary spending this year.

Retirement board member Vicki Crow said she has proposed a method to spread the additional retirement costs over three years.

The board rejected that proposal last month.

Crow, the county's auditor-treasurer/tax collector, says the county is already suffering enough financial turmoil."

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