Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-09 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pension and other retiree benefits for state and local government employees represent liabilities for state and local governments and ultimately a burden for state and local taxpayers. Since 1986, accounting standards have required state and local governments to report their unfunded pension liabilities. Recently, however, standards changed and now call for governments also to report retiree health liabilities. The extent of these liabilities nationwide is not yet known, but some predict they will be very large, possibly exceeding a trillion dollars in present value terms. The federal government has an interest in assuring that all Americans have a secure retirement, as reflected in the federal tax deferral for contributions to both public and private pension plans. Consequently, the GAO was asked to examine: 1) the key measures of the funded status of retiree benefits and 2) the current funded status of retiree benefits. GAO analyzed data on public pensions, reviewed current literature, and interviewed a range of experts on public retiree benefits, actuarial science, and accounting. Three key measures help to understand different aspects of the funded status of state and local government pension and other retiree benefits. First, governments' annual contributions indicate the extent to which governments are keeping up with the benefits as they are accumulating. Second, the funded ratio indicates the percentage of actuarially accrued benefit liabilities covered by the actuarial value of assets. Third, unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities indicate the excess, if any, of liabilities over assets in dollars. Governments have been reporting these three measures for pensions for years, but new accounting standards will also require governments to report the same for retiree health benefits. Because a variety of methods and actuarial assumptions are used to calculate the funded status, different plans cannot be easily compared. Currently, most state and local government pension plans have enough invested resources set aside to keep up with the benefits they are scheduled to pay over the next several decades, but governments offering retiree health benefits generally have large unfunded liabilities. Many experts consider a funded ratio of about 80 percent or better to be sound for government pensions. We found that 58 percent of 65 large pension plans were funded to that level in 2006, a decrease since 2000. Low funded ratios would eventually require the government employer to improve funding, for example, by reducing benefits or by increasing contributions. However, pension benefits are generally not at risk in the near term because current assets and new contributions may be sufficient to pay benefits for several years. Still, many governments have often contributed less than the amount needed to improve or maintain funded ratios. Low contributions raise concerns about the future funded status. For retiree health benefits, studies estimate that the total unfunded actuarial accrued liability for state and local governments lies between $600 billion and $1.6 trillion in present value terms. The unfunded liabilities are large because governments typically have not set aside any funds for the future payment of retiree health benefits as they have for pensions. Percentage of State and Local Pension Plans with Funded Ratios above or below 80 Percent Source: GAO analysis of PFS, PENDAT data.Percentage of plansFiscal yearFunded ratio 80 percent or moreFunded ratio less than 80 percent020406080100200620052004200320022001200019961994

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by USA Government Accountability Office and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past half-century, the number of state and local government workers has grown significantly. In 2006, this sector accounted for about 12 percent of the nation's workforce. Since 1996, accounting standards calling for state and local governments to report their liabilities for future pension costs have been in place, but standards calling for similar treatment of the future costs of retiree health benefits have only recently been issued. It is unclear as yet, what actions state and local governments may take once the future costs of these benefits are known. However, future decisions about the appropriate levels of benefits for retirees will likely occur in a broader context of persistent fiscal challenges that state and local governments will face in the next decade. Hence, concerns have been raised about the public sector's capacity to meet the rising cost of providing its retirees with promised pension and other post-employment benefits, such as retiree health care. State and local retiree benefits are not subject, for the most part, to federal laws governing private sector retiree benefits. Nevertheless, there is a federal interest in ensuring that all Americans have a secure retirement, an interest that is reflected in preferential tax treatment for contributions and investment earnings associated with qualified pension plans in both the public and the private sectors. This is an excerpted and indexed edition.

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-01-15 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State and Local Government Retiree Benefits: Current Funded Status of Pension and Health Benefits

Download or read book State and Local Government Retirement Systems 1965 written by Joseph Krislov and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Health Benefits written by John E. Dicken and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accounting standards require governments to account for the costs of other post-employment benefits (OPEB) -- the largest of which is typically retiree health benefits -- when an employee earns the benefit. As state and local governments have historically not funded retiree health benefits when the benefits are earned, much of their OPEB liability may be unfunded. This report provides info. on governments' retiree health liabilities. It describes: (1) what has been reported in state and local governments' comprehensive annual financial reports regarding OPEB liabilities; (2) actions state and local governments have taken to address retiree health liabilities; and (3) the overall fiscal pressures these governments face. Charts and tables.

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits Current Funded Status of Pension and Health Benefits written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Finances of Employee retirement Systems of State and Local Governments in written by and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Retirement Systems for Employees of State and Local Governments 1966 written by Saul Waldman and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Retirement Credit for Services Rendered States and Other Government Instrumentalities written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Subcommittee on Retirement and Employee Benefits and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-01-26 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State and Local Government Retiree Benefits: Current Status of Benefit Structures, Protections, and Fiscal Outlook for Funding Future Costs

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

Download or read book A Survey of State and Local Government Retirement Systems Covering Workers Also Covered Under the Federal Oldage Survivors and Disability Program 1961 written by Joseph Krislov and published by . This book was released on 1962 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Benefits written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Health Benefits written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State and local government retiree health benefits : liabilities are largely unfunded, but some governments are taking actions : report to the Chairman, Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate.

Download or read book State and Local Government Retiree Health Benefits written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-01-21 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State and Local Government Retiree Health Benefits: Liabilities Are Largely Unfunded, but Some Governments Are Taking Action

Download or read book State and Local Pension Systems written by United States. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: