Our calculations suggest that total local pension contributions for our sample account for about 8 percent of local budgets. The final section concludes that despite the perils facing cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Omaha, 1 locally administered plans, overall, are as well-funded as those administered by the states. But the demands of local plans are only half the story in terms of pressure on local budgets; local contributions to state plans will be a major driver of future budget burdens.
Locally-Administered Plans
This brief updates an earlier survey of locally-administered public pension plans. In general the data are for 2006 and 2010, but many localities report only every other year, so the years vary slightly. The intent was to include the two largest plans from each state.
Because of data availability issues, the original sample consisted of 84 local plans from 37 states. The updated sample includes 13 additional plans, extending the coverage to 97 plans and 40 states. The data for 20 of these plans come from the Public Plans Database (PPD); the variables for the other 77 are newly collected (see Appendix).
Locally-administered plans range enormously in size. Three plans – the New York City Employee Retirement System, the New York City Teachers plan, and the Los Angeles County Employee Retirement System – have assets in excess of $30 billion. The three smallest plans, Pocatello (ID) Police Retirement Pension Plan, City of Spartanburg (SC) General Employees Retirement Plan, and Owensboro (KY) City Employees’ Pension Funds – each hold less than $15 million.
Read the rest of the brief at the CRR site.
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