Post by Logan on Jan 21, 2016 21:58:41 GMT -6
TRENTON — Moody's Investors Service again sent up a warning flare that a possible New Jersey Supreme Court ruling striking down cuts to public retirees' pension benefits would soak the struggling retirement system with new pension liabilities.
But in its latest report released Wednesday on the "extraordinary decisions and challenges" the Garden State faces, the Wall Street ratings agency estimated the public pension system's $55 billion unfunded liability ($113 billion if measured under different accounting standards) would increase by a third if state and local governments are forced to restore retirees' cost-of-living increases.
About $40 billion of the $55 billion (or $80.5 billion of $113 billion) in pension debt belongs to the state, which pays retirement benefits for state workers, teachers and some law enforcement, according to state bond documents.
That shortfall in what it would cost to pay for future benefits has accrued over two decades as governors skipped or shorted annual pension payments. And New Jersey's annual average contribution over the past seven years, 13.5 percent, is the lowest in the U.S., Moody's said.
Continued at www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/losing_state_supreme_court_pension_case_could_cost.html#incart_most-read_politics_article .
But in its latest report released Wednesday on the "extraordinary decisions and challenges" the Garden State faces, the Wall Street ratings agency estimated the public pension system's $55 billion unfunded liability ($113 billion if measured under different accounting standards) would increase by a third if state and local governments are forced to restore retirees' cost-of-living increases.
About $40 billion of the $55 billion (or $80.5 billion of $113 billion) in pension debt belongs to the state, which pays retirement benefits for state workers, teachers and some law enforcement, according to state bond documents.
That shortfall in what it would cost to pay for future benefits has accrued over two decades as governors skipped or shorted annual pension payments. And New Jersey's annual average contribution over the past seven years, 13.5 percent, is the lowest in the U.S., Moody's said.
Continued at www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/losing_state_supreme_court_pension_case_could_cost.html#incart_most-read_politics_article .