May state legislative applications limit an Article V convention? Subject, yes; specific language, probably not
- September 12, 2013
PERA
- Home
- PERA
Colorado’s PERA shortchanging state workers and taxpayers0
- June 23, 2014
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
READ MOREFairness in retirement age a necessary public pension reform0
- June 3, 2014
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
READ MOREPERA’s Problems in 20130
- September 18, 2013
The trajectory of the Public Employee Retirement Association of Colorado’s (PERA) financial condition has been anything but linear. From times of seeming excess to times of projections for failure, the public employee pension scheme has changed radically over time. As of 2013, expected improvements to the system’s outlook have not materialized, and PERA is once again in crisis. While far from alone in the gov- ernment employee problem, Colorado may be facing one of the worst current circumstances.
READ MORE
The Colorado Government Pension System Introduction and Basic Organization0
- April 22, 2013
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.
READ MOREPreventing Bankruptcy in State and Local Pension Plans in Colorado0
- August 22, 2012
State and local governments report the funding status of their pension plans in financial statements following standards set by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Historically, those standards allowed state and local governments to use an actuarial model and to discount liabilities based on the long-term yield on the assets held in the pension fund. The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA) uses an 8 percent discount rate comparable to that used in most state and local pension plans. GASB also allowed state and local governments to use a smoothing technique to calculate the funding status of the plans. With this smoothing technique, losses incurred on assets in one year could be averaged over several years.
READ MORE
