PERS plan may cost business, consumers dearly

Oregon Business Report
By Mark Hester
September 21, 2017

The Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) Unfunded Actuarial Liability (UAL) Task Force described each of its first two meetings as "brainstorming," but it's already clear that most of the proposals discussed so far would create a storm of controversy.

Perhaps, that is unavoidable given the magnitude of the problem the task force is charged with studying - ways to reduce the $25 billion PERS unfunded liability.  But there also should be concern that the long-term harm caused by many of the proposals would outweigh the short-term budget benefits.  Making a small dent in the unfunded liability will not be enough to stop the long-term growth of PERS, which threatens to soon account for as much as 30% of payroll costs for some school districts.

Read the full article at the Oregon Business Report website here.