INTERIM. Pension Committee. 5 Recommendations for 2017.

The House Committee on Pensions 2016 Interim Report makes the following recommendations:

• Recommends that “all pension plans work with their respective cities in order to negotiate and come to an agreement that works for both the members of the funds and the taxpaying citizens of those cities while it is still financially feasible “
• Recommends “that missed payments and contributions can be made up through use of appropriate instruments such as pension obligation bonds and/or one time payments “
• “Recommend[s] that a combination of pension obligation bonds and excess bonding capacity be used to make up for historic shortfalls in actuarially recommended contributions”

The report concludes with this message:

• Cities must act now
• If cities don’t act “severe actions” will be required
• The solution is not “simply changing the type of plans” from defined benefit to defined contribution  

The report also does NOT recommend the following:

• one time State payments for historic pension shortfalls