Halloween in PERSville

Scary, but all too real. 

Borrow to pay for unfunded liabilities?  

Isn't that what Pay Day Loans are for?  

Below are Comments from a scary Oregonian article about the depth of the state's unpaid PERS liabilities that are impacting governments, school districts and agencies throughout the state.  Read the entire Oregonian article for the truly frightening stuff!

The Oregonian, October 8, 2016  by Ted Sickinger
Possible PERS fix: Borrowing money 

The idea isn't new. It's risky, and it may not be feasible given the state's debt limits, required voter approvals and reaction of Republican state leaders, who are dead set against the idea

Comments:
oregongrown
The Oregonian Dec 2015- Why PERS is Under Water Again

"Randall Pozdena, who worked for the Oregon Investment Council, who has warned PERS and legislators, repeatedly, that it was on unstable ground due to massive over-crediting.""The Oregonian reported on Dec. 1 that PERS' unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) is likely to be $20.5 billion by year's end — an amount equal to 27 percent of Oregon household income."

See that folks.  That was last Dec 2015.  The PERS UNFUNDED LIABILITY IS OVER $22 billion now.  So that is an amount equal to about 30% percent of Oregon household income. And these are the financial stewards we have in charge of OUR money.

Beyond Pathetic.

trlfan
And people think measure 97 is a good idea?  They don't need more money, we need to elect people who aren't mentally handicapped.

oregongrown
The Public Employees Retirement Board implements and administers the policy choices made by the Legislature.

As trustee of the Public Employees Retirement Fund, the PERS Board has a fiduciary responsibility to administer the system in the best interest of the members contributing to the PERS Fund.

What about the people that "contribute" as in taxpayers? We the taxpayers are forced to contribute to this but somehow we get none of that "fiduciary responsibility" administered to us.

yourmaster
Ridiculous idea....borrowing more to get out of debt has never worked...ever.

averagejoe44
PERS Funding Becomes Oregon’s Top Priority. In 1989, the Legislature made new laws to punish public employers that do not pay their PERS assessments on time. Laws already allowed the Attorney General to sue public employers to recover late PERS payments, but that was not enough. The new laws made the public employer pay interest on any delinquent PERS assessment and, after the delinquency is certified by the PERS Board, the State Treasury must withhold all money due the delinquent public employer until the deficiency is paid. The purpose of that legislation was clear: PERS assessments must be paid first. If services to the public are reduced, then so be it. To the PERS members who control the decision making process, PERS funding is more important than services to the people.

beholderzeye
yep...one thing is for sure, the answer to any PERS solution is not to cut ANY employees and/or benefits...
Don't these pathetic, greedy, little people realize that exactly how the mafia operates...get people in over their heads financially and then force them to work for them, the mafia...