The Funding of State and Local Pensions: 2014-2018

The brief’s key findings are:

• During 2014, public plans adopted new accounting standards for reporting purposes but continued to use the traditional standards for funding purposes.

• The traditional funded ratio rose from 72 percent in 2013 to 74 percent in 2014 – the first improvement since the financial crisis.

• Required contributions continued to climb in 2014, but plans stepped up their payments from 82 percent to 88 percent of the required amount.

• The outlook for the next several years suggests continued steady improvement in funding unless plans experience lower than assumed asset returns.