Burlington, other Wisconsin cities avoid pension woes
BURLINGTON — As a recent Pew Center on States report revealed, pension obligations for public employees are plaguing a number of cities around the country; nationwide the gap between what states owe retirees and what funds they have available to pay them has grown to $1.38 trillion.
Wisconsin, however, is the only state in the country with a fully-funded public employee pension system, the report noted. Being fully funded means the state has enough money from both investments and employer/employee contributions to make pension payouts.
And while pension obligations are making some cities across the country consider steps as drastic as bankruptcy, a Racine Journal Times story notes the city of Burlington and other Racine County municipalities don’t face such worries.
Steve DeQuaker, Burlington’s budget officer/treasurer, said the city—like Racine County—has no unfunded pension liabilities, so that even if all eligible public employees retired , pension amounts would be available.
In Burlington, where the city has 108 FTEs, pension costs for 2012 are $527,000. The city has budgeted a total of $20,700,000 for all expenses.
For the complete story, see HERE.
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