Today's Daily Journal is recapping a study by Northwestern's business school:
San Mateo County’s unfunded pension liability — namely retirement benefits draining current coffers to pay for past employees — is $9,415 per household, according to a recent national study looking at local governments at risk for bankruptcy.
San Mateo was listed among the top 10 counties nationwide troubled by rising pension costs as ranked in an Oct. 13 study out of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Note that the $9,415 figure comes from an assumption of an 8% return on the investments that support this cost stream. Let's face it, 8% year after year is wishful thinking. I've seen reports that estimate we should be using 4% as the return figure. Doesn't appear as if we have made much progress since June 2009.
In case anyone missed this in yesterday's NY Times (Bay Citizen sourcing) -- 6 of 9 trustees for San Mateo County Retirement System apparently just went to Hawaii for a conference, costing over $23.5K. Hope it was a fruitful educational experience:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/us/21bcpensions.html?scp=1&sq=san%20mateo%20county%20retirement&st=cse
Posted by: Account Deleted | November 22, 2010 at 02:16 PM