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Unfunded Pension Obligations

The long-term neglect of this issue has left us with no good answers, just difficult decisions. We need a disciplined, long-term strategy that will require politically tough, unpopular decisions. To address our unfunded pension obligations:

• Mandate timely pension contributions and escalate them incrementally over a defined period.
• Make legislators personally invested in making benchmarks and staying on schedule by linking discretionary district spending to annual payments.
• Offer lump-sum retirement payouts to reduce long-term obligation.
• Examine whether state pensions are out of line with private sector compensation, and if so, make adjustments on a going-forward basis.
• To further reduce existing obligations, assign a share of new revenue realized from graduated income tax, broadened tax base and sale of state assets.
• Safeguard the system from any end-of-career pension-bumps.