Elorza Claims Surplus, While City Suffers Through $2+ Billion Unfunded Pension and OPEB Liabilities

GoLocalProv News Team

Elorza Claims Surplus, While City Suffers Through $2+ Billion Unfunded Pension and OPEB Liabilities

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza
A press release from Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza announced on Wednesday, “The City of Providence is expecting to report a year-end operating surplus for Fiscal Year 2019 of $8.5 million. This is the fourth consecutive year the capital city is realizing an operating surplus, growing its Rainy Day Fund to $20 million.”

But in a follow-up, the city admitted that there has been little progress in the $2 plus billion in unfunded liabilities to the city’s employee pension fund and health benefits -- other post-employment benefits (OPEB).

“The unfunded liability remains a challenge, the City continues to fund the system based on the current amortization schedule at 100% after years of underfunding in the past,” said Emily Crowell, Chief of Communications for Elorza.

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The City of Providence’s pension fund — the largest municipal plan in the state of Rhode Island — is in ”Critical” status. Providence is underfunded by more than $1.356 billion. And, the majority of municipal plans across the state are also designated as critically underfunded, a total of twenty other municipal pension plans.

Critical funding status is defined by Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner as pension funds that are forty percent underfunded.

The Providence pension plan is only funded at 26.3 percent, with more than 2,800 active members in the plan and 3,200 retirees.

Most concerning is that the situation — the unfunded liability — got worse in the past year for the pension plans across the state. The combined unfunded liability increased from $2.4 billion in Magaziner’s 2018 report to $2.5 billion in this year’s report.


Pension Report: April 29, 2019

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