New Data Show City Pension Plans' Funding Ratios Improve, While Largest State and Local Pension Systems Assets Flat in 4th Quarter 2016 by Richard Ciccarone and Jeffrey L Garceau City pension plans improved their funding ratios in 2015, reaching the highest funding...
Public Pensions
Fiscal Contagion: When Distressed Municipalities Put States and Local Clusters at Risk
by Richard A. Ciccarone When a municipal government suffers severe fiscal problems, be it a city, county, school district, utility district, or any other special purpose government, those problems have a tendency to impact or be shared by other governments. Bond...
National Association of State Retirement Administrators Guide for Public Pension Funding Policies
NASRA Provides Guidance to Follow Public Pension Funding Policies' Best Practices, Looks at Dedicated Funding Sources MuniNet Guide dedicates a lot of effort to discussing and solving the public pension and OPEB (other post-employment benefits) crisis, and will...
CalPERS Gives Blueprint to Cost Savings for Pension System Funds
California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Realizes Nearly $1 Billion in Savings Since 2011 The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) released the Annual Cost Efficiency and Effectiveness Report detailing several initiatives that...
Mayor Emanuel Announces City of Chicago’s 2017 Budget
Chicago Budget 2017 Shows Progress, but Large Challenges Remain Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel presented the City of Chicago budget for FY 2017 to the City Council. “This is a budget unlike any other in recent memory. It is free of an immediate pension crisis and free of...
Alaska Pension Obligation Bonds – $2.4 Billion | MuniNet Featured Bond
Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 10/10/2016: Alaska Pension Obligation Bonds - $2.4 Billion This week’s featured bond comes from the State of Alaska. The Alaska Pension Obligation Bond Corporation is scheduled to issue $2.4 billion in pension obligation...
This May Be One “Discount” That’s not So Appealing
More on 2015 City Pension Funds: This is Part II in Richard Ciccarone's look at city pension funds in 2015 and the future landscape. Part I can be found here. Earlier this month, MuniNet reported that most city pension plan funding ratios took a positive bounce based...
City Pension Funding Ratios Take a Bounce Back in 2015 for Most Cities
A Few Quick Points About City Pension Funding... by Richard A Ciccarone Based on audited results from 701 cities received to date by Merritt Research Services, City single/agent pension funding ratios showed a marked improvement in FY 2015 compared to the...
Municipal Finance Digest: Fiscal Policy in Our Cities and States
MuniNet Guide provides some of the more notable news stories relating to state and local government finance, including taxes, budgets, and pensions. U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2015 Survey of Public Pensions (U.S. Census Bureau) - The U.S. Census Bureau's...
Court Review of Public Pension Reform: The Latest Ruling Emphasizes Consensual Agreement Over Legislatively Mandated Changes
by James E. Spiotto* Over the last eight years, over 45 states and numerous local governments have instituted some form of pension reform which many times included increasing contributions and reducing benefits. Over the last four years, there have been over 18 state...