Treasurer Magaziner Announces Plan to Strengthen Municipal Pension Systems March

March 30, 2017: Continuing his commitment to bring a steady hand to public finances throughout the state, Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner today announced the “Healthy Local Pensions (HELP)” proposal, which will help cities and towns with locally administered pension systems improve performance and reduce costs through the state’s Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (MERS).

More than 75% of the municipal pension plans in Rhode Island are already in the state-run MERS system. Due to the size of the state pension system, municipal plans in MERS enjoy a healthy funding status, stronger investment performance and lower costs than most smaller locally-managed plans are able to achieve on their own. While the 116 municipal plan in the state system have an average funded status of 83%, the pension plans that remain locally administered carry a combined $2.4 billion unfunded liability. Of the 34 locally administered plans, 19 are below 60% funded and 12 are below 40%.

 You can read the press release here.