PERA deserves an earful on its listening tour
Members and non-members alike should be prepared to ask PERA’s board some tough questions about their credibility.
Mismanaged pension funds are imperiling state budgets
As the looming public pension storm gathers strength, debate is expanding past technical matters and into the governance structures of taxpayer-funded pension plans. The problems that beset our public pensions are not the result of random chance, evil spirits, or swamp gas. They are the result of conscious decisions made by human beings.
Colorado’s PERA shortchanging state workers and taxpayers
Problems with Colorado’s public employee pension system are making it hard for our state government to attract some of the best employees. That’s the persuasive finding of a new study by the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank in Washington. An employer’s retirement plan is part of an overall compensation package designed to entice and […]
Fairness in retirement age a necessary public pension reform
Imagine that you and your neighbor are friends and professional peers. You belong to the same professional organizations. You each have worked for your respective employers for a long time as retirement approaches. But one of you works for a private employer, the other for the State of Colorado. The state employee can retire with […]
The Colorado Government Pension System Introduction and Basic Organization
Colorado’s Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA) is the State’s largest pension plan, with more than 483,000 members as of 2011. Government contributions exceeded $1 billion in FY2011.
Unfunded Liabilities in PERA’s Health Plan Accumulate
by Penn Pfiffner and Barry Poulson This legislative session Colorado HB1250 was introduced to begin addressing an unfunded billion-dollar liability in the Public Employee Retirement Association’s (PERA) retiree health care benefit program. Its own sponsor then killed the bill after it came under a fire storm of hysteria-tinged and false criticisms, fueled by one-sided media […]
