State Audit Details Pension Liability, Unemployment Fund Deficit

State Audit Details Pension Liability, Unemployment Fund Deficit

The annual state audit shows the pension system is more than 50 percent unfunded and has a $788 million unfunded liability for health care benefits.

The Rhode Island Auditor General released the audit for the 2010 fiscal year today. Other findings include:

• The state ended with an unreserved fund balance of about $18 million and $112 million in budget reserves.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

• The state also borrowed $225 million last year from the federal government to pay for unemployment benefits, according to the audit. As of June 30, 2010, the state’s unemployment benefits fund had a deficit of $116 million.

• The audit also reveals that the state’s retirement system had a 42.5 percent unfunded liability, as of June 30, 2009. The unfunded liability for retirees’ health care benefits was $788 million.

• The audit, formally known as the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), was prepared by Acting Auditor General Dennis E. Hoyle.

Read the audit online here: http://controller.admin.ri.gov/index.php