Report says locally run pension plans underfunded in R.I.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s Municipal Employees Retirement System has a funded ratio of 92.8 percent, while the municipalities’ locally administered plans have a funded ratio of only 42.8 percent, according to a report issued last week.
The report, released by the Senate Municipal Pension Study Commission, also found that the communities participating in MERS made 100 percent of their annual required contribution payment, whereas the communities using locally administered pension programs contributed approximately 82 percent of their annual required contribution.
Other findings in the report included:
&#8226 Retirement benefits represent the fastest-growing component of municipal expenditures (including education aid) and represented more than one-fourth of all noneducation-related municipal spending in the 2010 fiscal year.
&#8226 The collective annual required contribution for all municipal pensions was $295 million in the 2009 fiscal year, of which $161 million related to locally administered plans.
&#8226 Locally administered plans are considered to be most at-risk by the auditor general because they do not have the appropriate level of available assets to meet the benefit obligations for retirees.
&#8226 Communities contributed $100.8 million in payments to support other post-employment benefits plans, nearly $90 million less than the annual required contribution of $190 million. &#8226