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Abstract: 

This discussion focuses on the current status of public pension plans and their financial impact on plan sponsors’ operating budgets. Is there a pension funding “crisis,” or is this just a temporary problem? How can we make comparisons of the fiscal health of differing pension systems given differing valuation methods? Does recent market experience argue for changes to actuarial assumptions or investment strategies? The authors explore the pros and cons of various budgetary and financing solutions to pension funding, including expenditure deferrals and pension obligation bonds. They also look to the future to discuss the implications of the new GASB standard regarding other post-employment benefits. Based on the authors’ presentations in the panel on Pensions and Other Retirement Costs—A Ticking Time Bomb? at the Twenty-First Annual Conference of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, May 5–7, 2004.

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Affiliations:  1: Fitch Ratings; 2: National Association of State Retirement Administrators; 3: Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company; 4: Standard & Poor’s; 5: Roosevelt & Cross.