Welcome to the latest edition of This Week in Pensions! We have gathered the best stories about pensions and retirement security from the previous week. You need to know this news in the fight for a secure retirement.
NPPC News
With the summer Olympics in full swing, we can’t help but point out that if retirement plans were competing in a race, pensions would clearly win first place. Want to know more? Check out our latest blog, Going for the Gold in Retirement today!
Colorado’s PERA Performance Under Scrutiny
An independent review submitted earlier this month to the Colorado legislature’s Pension Review Subcommittee identified issues with the assumptions PERA uses to calculate its unfunded liability, raising concerns about future reform attempts. The report by the Swiss company PNYX Group says PERA’s $27.5 billion funding gap could be as much as 10% higher than currently estimated.
The report suggested the state make an additional $2 billion payment into the fund to prevent what it said was a “material risk of reaching a point of no return” where payments to retirees are jeopardized. (It should be noted, that no public pension system in the United States has ever failed to make payments to its retirees). While PERA advisors admit there is room for improvement in funding and assumptions, questions remain about the methodology PNYX used to reach their findings. Sen. Chris Kolker, D-Centennial, who chairs the subcommittee, said, “I don’t see any glaring legislative changes, personally.”
PERA is slated to review its investment portfolio later this year.
A Winning Combo of Pay and Benefits in VA Attracts School Bus Drivers
In the last 3 years, Virginia has seen a 5% decrease in school bus driver vacancies. The Virginia Department of Education recorded a 16% vacancy rate of full- and part-time drivers during the 2021-22 school year. That rate fell to 10% in the 2023-2024 time period.
Several factors are believed to have alleviated the problematic vacancies, including increases in pay, incentivizing teachers to drive buses part-time, and a shortened period during which retired bus drivers with 25 years of service or more could return to work without losing their monthly pension benefits.
“It is a huge benefit to teachers,” Washington County Superintendent Keith Perrigan said. “Much of rural Virginia, especially Southwest Virginia, is seeing progress in this area. Although we still have some work to do, we are breathing a little easier with the bus driver shortage.”
Paramedic Shortages in Kentucky Causing Concern
John Holden, chairman of the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services addressed lawmakers in Frankfort Tuesday to warn about the dire shortage of paramedics across the state. Calling it “impossible to meet personnel requirements,” Holden told legislators, “It truly is a crisis. We have services that are going to shut down if we can’t find a solution to this problem.”
Covington Fire Department Assistant Chief Jimmy Adams noted that the lack of pensions for paramedics and other public safety personnel as a barrier to attracting and retaining qualified candidates. “Ohio and Indiana are very close to us. Both have pension systems. That’s up to the legislators and that’s a whole other item, but it has affected our ability to recruit people and also retain those folks based off of what the retirement system offers them. People from our department have gone to Ohio because of our pension system,” Adams said.
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