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NewsRegister.com: PERS In-Depth
PERS in Crisis: The Sequel
Nov. 9, 2009 / PERS White Paper
Former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling has compiled a 2009 White Paper about Oregon's Public Employee Retirement Fund – a detailed investigation into the history, the politics and the current financial realities of the 40-year-old pension program. The current financial crisis, he says, comes from 27 percent losses in 2008 that "wiped out the previous 4 years' of investment gains."
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PERS In-Depth
Stories and Commentaries depict evolution of
financial crises and public policy responses for
Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System
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Articles in reverse chronological order
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PERS crisis looming next in Oregon
March 31, 2010 / Associated Press
There's another budget crisis brewing in Oregon. It's still a year and a half away, but when it hits, it will affect every level of government in the state.
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AIG settles PERS lawsuit for $8 million
Feb. 27, 2010 / Associated Press
Insurance giant AIG will pay $8 million to settle a lawsuit over Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund losses blamed on bid-rigging and failure to disclose unethical or improper practices, state officials announced Thursday.
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Pension board smoothes out rate hikes
Jan. 30, 2010 / Associated Press
The board of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System has voted to take some of the edge off a coming increase in employer pension rates.
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PERS eyes ways to ease rate hike
Jan. 27, 2010 / Associated Press
Employer pension contributions to the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System are slated to take a 6 percent jump on July 1, 2011, which marks the start of a new biennium.
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Climbing PERS expenses face Oregon pension board, agency budget writers
Oct. 24, 2009 / The Oregonian
The cost of Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System is about to skyrocket to budget-busting levels. Every state agency, municipality and school district that participates in the system is staring at an average 50 percent increase in the base rates PERS charges to fund their employees' retirement benefits in 2011 and 2012.
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Payments to pension plan to soar
Oct. 3, 2009 / Associated Press
The Public Employees Retirement System fund lost 27 percent of its value last year. To help put the system's funded status back in balance, state and local government agencies, school districts and municipalities will have to devote a higher percentage of their payroll rates to pension obligations.
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Appeals court approves PERS mortality tables
Sept. 18, 2008 / Associated Press
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday the state could update the mortality tables used to calculate benefits beginning in 2004 as ordered by the Legislature.
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Some retired public workers entitled to lawsuit refund
March 17, 2008 / Associated Press
Some retired state workers who helped pay for a successful class-action lawsuit against the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System five years ago are entitled to some money back — up to 72 cents for each dollar they gave.
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Rough start to year for pension fund
Jan. 28, 2008 / Associated Press
Think your 401 (k) has taken a hit this month? The value of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement fund has declined by about $5 billi
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Thousands of Oregon public retirees will get an increase in checks
Aug. 21, 2007 / Associated Press
Thousands of retired public workers will see an increase in their monthly pension checks as the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System restores cost-of-living adjustments to many workers who retired from April 2000 through March 2004.
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PERS pensions continue to dip, new study says
Nov. 29, 2006 / Associated Press
For the fourth year in a row, the state pensions doled out to new retirees have dipped, according to a new Public Employees Retirement System study.
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Retirees asked for PERS repayments
July 22, 2006 / Associated Press
Oregon's state pension board plans to ask about 1,900 retired government employees to repay an average of nearly $28,000 each.
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PERS action trims employer costs
March 2, 2006 / Associated Press
Board redistributes its reserves, which will reduce payments due from state government, cities, counties and school districts.
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PERS fund gets boost from real estate, buyouts
Feb. 11, 2006 / Associated Press
Driven by gains from real estate and buyout firms, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund returned 13.48 percent in 2005. Pension managers said that was better than 92 percent of public pension funds with assets of more than $10 billion.
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PERS manager consider new plan for reserve monies
Feb. 7, 2006 / Associated Press
Managers of the state Public Employees Retirement System want to redeploy much of the pension fund's reserves, a plan they say could save $111 million annually in the pension benefit costs paid by state and local governments.
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PERS looks to recoup overpayments to retirees
Dec. 13, 2005 / Associated Press
The Oregon Public Employees Retirement System is looking to recoup its recent overpayments to some retirees, while making some long-delayed payments to others. At the center of any changes are retirees who left their jobs between April 2000 and April 2004.
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Retired public workers will get smaller checks
Sept. 27, 2005 / Associated Press
Recently retired Oregon public employees will have to repay more than $75 million in retirement benefits as the state trims $800 million in benefits to make up for past overpayments to pension accounts, the state's public pension board decided Friday.
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Pension board weighs repayment options
Sept. 22, 2005 / Associated Press
State pension fund managers are proposing a long repayment period that would ease the impact of getting refunds from some retired public employees who a judge has ruled got too much money in their pension accounts five years ago.
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Pension troubles push up Oregon debt
Sept. 6, 2005 / Associated Press
The state's debt has jumped in recent years, mainly because of problems in the deficit-plagued public employee pension fund, giving Oregon the 11th largest debt burden among the states, financial officials say.
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Ruling on PERS could mean $2.1 billion for public employees
April 2, 2005 / Associated Press
A recent Oregon Supreme Court ruling that struck down some of the 2003 Legislature's reforms to the public pension system will shift $2.1 billion to public employees in the next 25 years, officials said Tuesday.
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Proposed bills would help PERS workers with gaps in service
March 21, 2005 / Associated Press
Public employees who leave PERS-covered jobs for six to 12 months return under the lower-tier pension benefits offered to new employees. Gov. Ted Kulongoski is asking the 2005 Legislature to approve changes to the break-in-service rules to exempt seasonal workers, and people who leave their jobs because of injury and disease.
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Court strikes down part of PERS reform
March 13, 2005 / Associated Press
The Oregon Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld some of the Legislature's cost-cutting reforms of the Public Employees Retirement System, but struck down others.
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PERS costs rise for agencies, schools
Jan. 29, 2005 / Staff & AP Reports
Units of local governments and public school districts face sharp increases in pension costs for the new biennium starting July 1, according to the state's Public Employees Retirement System.
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Lawsuits could further tighten bare-bones budget
Dec. 7, 2004 / Associated Press
If the state loses either of two cases pending before the Oregon Supreme Court, it would siphon hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars from public services
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Federal judge upholds PERS reform
August 24, 2004 / Associated Press
A federal judge has upheld the Oregon Legislature's cost-cutting reforms to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, rejecting claims that the changes violate workers' contract rights.
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Union contributions go to judges who will decide PERS case
August 17, 2004 / Associated Press
State records show that two of the three Oregon Supreme Court judges who won re-election this year got campaign aid from labor unions and union-affiliated political committees, according to The Bulletin of Bend.
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Supreme Court hears arguments over PERS reforms
July 31, 2004 / Associated Press
The constitutional fight over the Legislature's sweeping cost-cutting reforms to the public employees' pension plans is now in the hands of the Oregon Supreme Court.
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PERS battle moves to courts
July 29, 2004 / Associated Press
The battle over reforms made to the state Public Employees Retirement System moves to the courts Friday, with a hearing over the constitutionality of changes made to the system.
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PERS legal fees top $4 million
June 26, 2004 / Associated Press
The Legislative Emergency Board on Friday approved tapping a public pension reserve fund for a nearly $1 million payment to lawyers representing local governments in a lawsuit against the fund.
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PERS retirees earn close to working salary
April 27, 2004 / Associated Press
Public employees who retired after 30 years on the job at age 56 earned on average 87 percent of their working salary, according to an analysis of retirement records by The Oregonian newspaper.
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Surge of public retirements expected by March 1
Feb. 2, 2004 / Associated Press
A final surge of retiring public employees is expected this month, before a series of cost-cutting changes to the Public Employee Retirement System by the 2003 Legislature go into effect.
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PERS, governments reach settlement
Jan. 27, 2004 / Associated Press
Marion County Judge Paul Lipscomb ruled last year that the pension board used outdated life expectancy tables and improperly boosted member earnings during the height of the stock market boom.
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PERS board votes to limit retirement gains
Jan. 12, 2004 / Associated Press
State employees hired before 1996 likely will not see any growth in their regular retirement accounts for 2003 after the state Public Employees Retirement System board decided the pension plan still cannot afford it.
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Mac schools to refinance more PERS debt
Dec. 9, 2003 / News-Register
The McMinnville School District is planning to refinance additional PERS debt, a move expected to save at least $2.3 million over the course of the loan.
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Stock market may help PERS
Nov. 13, 2003 / Associated Press
The market's rapid growth could save state and local governments the equivalent of 2 percent of their total salary payments, by reducing retirement benefits costs, according to actuary Mark Johnson's annual review of Public Employees Retirement System finances.
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PERS director resigns
Oct. 31, 2003 / Associated Press
Jim Voytko, who led the state pension system through a period of reform that saw workers' retirement benefits reduced, resigned Thursday amid disagreements with a new board of directors.
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News-Register wins legal fees in public records case against PERS
Oct. 23, 2003 / News-Register
Marion County Circuit Court judge rules that PERS must pay newspaper's legal fees for public records lawsuit against the state agency. Previously, the judge ruled against the agency's claim that it could not waive public record fees for anyone except members of PERS.
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Judge to oversee pre-hearing work on PERS lawsuits
Oct. 17, 2003 / Associated Press
Lawsuits by public employees seeking to overturn the Legislature's pension reform package moved a step forward this week when a state judge was picked to handle pre-hearing matters in the case.
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Higher stock prices perk up PERS
Oct. 14, 2003 / Associated Press
The bull market on Wall Street has helped ease the shortfall within Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System.
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Voters pass pension bond measure
Sept. 17, 2003 / Associated Press
Oregon got permission from voters in Tuesday's special election to sell bonds to refinance part of the public pension debt, a move the state treasurer says will save the state about $1 billion.
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PERS reforms jeopardized by looming court battles
Sept. 8, 2003 / Associated Press
A coalition of unions representing teachers, firefighters, policemen and other state workers filed lawsuits in July in both the Oregon Supreme Court and federal court, claiming that the reforms break contract rights.
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Pension bond election may be little noticed
Sept. 2, 2003 / Associated Press
Ballots are in the mail for an unheralded statewide vote on a measure that would refinance at a lower cost the state's share of the public pension system's debt. Lawmakers set a special election on the proposition for Sept. 16.
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Yamhill County facing PERS dilemma
Aug. 5, 2003 / Associated Press
County officials recently learned Yamhill was one of three Oregon counties facing a dramatic increase in PERS rates despite reforms intended to lower them. The development figures to cost the county hundreds of thousands of tax dollars at a time when it has been trimming costs and shedding payroll to get by on reduced revenue.
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Employee unions challenge PERS reforms
July 26, 2003 / Associated Press
Unions representing Oregon public workers filed lawsuits in federal court and the Oregon Supreme Court, challenging a sweeping package of pension reforms that was passed by the Legislature in May.
Union leaders said reforms to the Public Employees Retirement System violated benefit promises in workers' contracts.
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House OKS pension debt refinance measure
July 14, 2003 / Associated Press
Oregonians this fall would vote on whether to let the state issue $2 billion in bonds as a way of helping pay off the public pension system's huge debt under a measure passed Monday by the House.
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House expected to reject pension plan
July 8, 2002 / Associated Press
Retirement benefits for future state workers will be sharply scaled back compared to those in the current pension system, but the Oregon House and Senate can't agree on how much to cut.
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County takes huge PERS hit
July 3, 2003 / Associated Press
Yamhill County officials were surprised by the increase in PERS costs. Local schools got relief from the Legislature, but rates went up for cities of Lafayette, Willamina, Yamhill.
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PERS retirements zoom in June
July 1, 2003 / Associated Press
As of June 27, some 9,790 public employees had filed to retire in 2003 - more than one-third of them in June. That far exceeds the previous yearly record of 6,843 set in 1999.
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House and Senate at odds over pension plan
June 28, 2003 / Associated Press
Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Senate leaders praised a "compromise" plan to create a new pension system for future state workers, but the leader of pension reform in the Republican-controlled House said it's too costly and likely won't vote for it.
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AG says PERS reform likely to be overturned
June 7, 2003 / Associated Press
Key elements of the Legislature's state pension reform package violate public employees' rights and likely will be thrown out by the Oregon Supreme Court, Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers says in a written opinion.
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News-Register wins a round in PERS records fight
May 22, 2003 / News-Register
SALEM - In dealing with a public records request from the News-Register Publishing Co., PERS officials should have considered granting a fee waiver on public interest grounds, a Marion County judge has ruled. In his decision, Judge Don Dickey turned away the agency's assertion that it lacked authority to consider fee waivers because its mission is legally limited to actions on behalf of PERS members.
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Francis Charbonnier: Legislature stems PERS hemorrhage
May 17, 2003 / News-Register
The PERS system's $17 billion unfunded liability is an appalling disaster, considering that total state revenue is about $5.6 billion a year. Last year PERS' deficit grew by $7 billion. The PERS financial crisis grew to such magnitude that thorough reform was necessary. The governor and legislators understood that and passed the bills that will protect public services from severe harm and even bankruptcy.
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Lawmakers pass PERS packages
May 3, 2003 / Associated Press
Lawmakers moved toward overhauling the state pension system Friday as both the House and Senate passed bills to sharply scale back the retirement benefits of state workers and scrap the Public Employees Retirement System for new workers.
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Governor rolls out pension reform plan
April 18, 2003 / Associated Press
The plan would solve the budget headache for the state's retirement system by taking back high stock market gains given to pension members in 1999.
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Rep. Macpherson making a name behind PERS reform
March 31, 2003 / Associated Press
The Lake Oswego Democrat is quickly making a name for himself by using his pension expertise to guide lawmakers through a bureaucracy that's sort of like an onion, consisting of layer upon layer. Lawsuits are threatened as lawmakers peel away at it to find ways to reduce its costs.
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House bill would remove lawmakers from PERS
March 28, 2003 / Associated Press
State legislators no longer would be in the present state pension system and would be offered a less generous 401(k)-style plan under a bill that approved by a House panel.
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House OKs pension calculation changes
March 1, 2003 / Associated Press
The Oregon House easily passed a measure Thursday to cut public employee pension costs by changing benefit calculations to protect those near retirement while shaving benefits for younger workers.
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Many PERS retirees get two paychecks
Feb. 25, 2003 / Associated Press
Public employees across Oregon take advantage of a 12-year-old law that allows retirees in the Public Employees Retirement System to work part time indefinitely or full time for six months.
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Governor signs compromise bill on mortables tables
Feb. 19, 2003 / Associated Press
Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Tuesday that he supported a compromise plan to protect the pensions of public workers close to retirement while cutting back benefits of younger workers in the system.
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Union pledges to fight and 'drastic' PERS reforms
Feb. 17, 2003 / Associated Press
The Legislature's efforts to turn the Public Employees Retirement system into less of a burden on the state economy have so far gone smoothly, but could spark protests and lawsuits if lawmakers try to cut benefits for existing workers.
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Bill to cap pension returns clears Legislature
Feb. 12, 2003 / Associated Press
The Legislature on Tuesday completed action on a bill to cap returns on public employees' pension accounts, the first step in an effort to cut costs of the deficit-plagued system.
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Committee approves remake of PERS Board
Feb. 1, 2003 / Associated Press
A House committee on Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System approved a bill Thursday to reduce the number of board members from 12 to five, the second piece of PERS reform legislation sent to the House in as many weeks.
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House passes cap on annual returns for PERS accounts
Jan. 30, 2003 / Associated Press
A measure to limit annual returns paid on public employee pension accounts sailed through the Oregon House on Wednesday, in the first step toward paring the retirement plan's big deficit.
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Governor outlines plan for PERS reform
Jan. 24, 2003 / Associated Press
Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Thursday he wants a new pension system created for new public employees and that he'd accept a plan that ended government payment of employee shares of pension contributions.
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Judge orders immediate update of PERS mortality tables
Jan. 17, 2003 / Associated Press
A Marion County judge has ordered the Public Employees Retirement System to immediately update obsolete life expectancy tables and redo the way it distributed earnings at the height of the stock market boom.
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Mac may appeal PERS rate
Jan. 16, 2003 / News-Register
No appeal can be filed until PERS board sets final rates for public employers, expected a month from now.
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House majority leader calls for PERS board resignations
Jan. 10, 2003 / Associated Press
House Majority Leader-elect Tim Knopp has called for the resignation of some state Public Employees Retirement System board members, saying eight or nine members of the 12-person board are largely responsible for the system's budget shortfall.
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Government costs rise with PERS shortfall
Nov. 13, 2002 / Associated Press
Oregon governments may have to pay 40 percent more for employee pensions because a $9.72 billion shortfall exceeds earlier estimates, according to the actuary who reviews pensions.
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Pension reform left in special session dust
Sept. 23, 2002 / Associated Press
An issue left in the dust as lawmakers plugged another budget hole and ended their fifth special session last week was the nagging problem of public pensions.
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Pension system bill narrowly fails in Senate
Sept. 6, 2002 / Associated Press
The Oregon Senate narrowly defeated a bill Thursday that would have scrapped the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System and directed the 2003 Legislature to enact a new retirement program.
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Pension system injected into budget session
Sept. 5, 2002 / Associated Press
The state's troubled pension system for government employees now is an issue in the Legislature's budget-balancing special session with a panel's approval of a bill to end the system by January 2004.
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Pension board OKs mortality table update
August 13, 2002 / Associated Press
The Public Employees Retirement Board voted to begin using new life expectancy tables in 2004, a move that could shave $1.5 billion or more from the pension system's projected shortfall.
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Supreme Court will review any PERS mortality table change
June 30, 2002 / Associated Press
Any challenge to a revision in the mortality tables that decide pension benefits to state workers will go directly to the Oregon Supreme Court for review under a bill approved Saturday during the special session of the Legislature.
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PERS measure simmers as session moves to adjournment
June 29, 2002 / Associated Press
A leading backer of a bill to overhaul Oregon's troubled pension system for public workers said Friday he thinks strong opposition by labor unions could prevent the issue from being brought to a vote in the Oregon House.
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House panel proposes to scrap PERS system for new hires
June 27, 2002 / Associated Press
Citing public pressure, members of a House panel introduced a measure Wednesday to cut costs in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System by replacing it with a new, unspecified retirement plan for public workers hired after July 2003.
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Ferrioli says pension reform unlikely
June 18, 2002 / Associated Press
The panel has been considering a bill that would require the pension system to update by Jan. 1 mortality tables that haven't been revised in 24 years.
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PERS compared to Ponzi scheme as trial begins
June 11, 2002 / Associated Press
The trial involving the state Public Employees Retirement System has gotten under way with accusations that the retirement fund works like a Ponzi scheme.
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Updating mortality tables could reduce pension checks
Sept. 25, 2001 / Associated Press
For two decades, the board has been using 1978 mortality tables when it calculates the monthly pension checks due to many new retirees. Yet Americans at retirement age now are living four years longer than those in 1978.
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Lawmakers grapple with rising public pensions
March 19, 2001 / Associated Press
The possible deficit is $4 billion. Or is it $7 billion or $13 billion, or nothing? That's the big part of the puzzle for lawmakers as they grapple with the future of the state's public employee pension system. The picture is fraught with political hazards.
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Study outlines problems in state retirement plan
Feb. 27, 2001 / Associated Press
A new analysis shows taxpayers may have to pay billions of dollars over the next 40 years to cover shortfalls in Oregon's retirement plan for public employees hired before 1996.
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Editorial: Taxpayers see return
of our PERS nightmare
Oct. 31, 2009 / News-Register
At a time when private retirement accounts plunged by as much as 50 percent, taxpayers are facing fewer public services at a higher cost because they have to prop up a Cadillac retirement plan. How did this happen?
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Editorial: Supreme Court right to require PERS paybacks
Aug. 20, 2005 / News-Register
Some former public employees who retired with overly generous pensions are upset that last week's Supreme Court ruling will reduce their monthly checks. They should be upset at former members of the Public Employees Retirement Service board, who improperly credited billions of dollars to individual retirement accounts instead of putting it into reserves.
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Editorial: Huge hike in PERS threatens services
Feb. 5, 2005 / News-Register
Reports last week drew gasps over a huge leap in employer contributions for the public employee retirement system. But even those reports fell short of the actual impact on taxpayers.
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Editorial: PERS 'budget whack' surprises county
July 12, 2003 / News-Register
The new rate, still hedged with uncertainty, bumped up the budgeted rate by 2.4 percent. That means $500,000 must be whittled from the budget that had to be adopted by June 30. Great timing.
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Editorial: Legislature has weak knees in PERS response
March 8, 2003 / News-Register
It's important to remember that Oregon public employees did not create the PERS scandal. But make no mistake; it is a scandal. And the Legislature is perpetuating the scandal with its cowardly performance on the issue of PERS "mortality tables."
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Editorial: Bonding debt to repay PERS could backfire
Dec. 28, 2002 / News-Register
Perhaps McMinnville School District made an astute businesslike move by borrowing $16 million to pay off its unfunded liability" debt to the Oregon Public Retirement System. But perhaps, District 40 should have waited for more PERS fallout to settle.
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Editorial: PERS benefits clarified; crisis remains
Sept. 28, 2002 / News-Register
PERS staff recently released information on how the system's "unfounded actuarial liability" could escalate out of control. The report included reasonable scenarios in which that deficit could hit $12.3 billion, or even $21 billion, by 2007.
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Editorial: PERS problems don't end with action by board
August 17, 2002 / News-Register
An antiquated bromide, "Better late than never," applies perfectly to the Public Employees Retirement System board and its 24-year-old life expectancy tables. But that shouldn't excuse the board's delay, which caused almost 20 percent of the $8.5 billion PERS deficit.
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Editorial: Taxpayers will demand reform of state PERS
June 1, 2002 / News-Register
The Public Employees Retirement System has Oregonians in a hammerlock. A scandalous matchup of legislative irresponsibility and head-in-the-sand management by the PERS board has state and local governments wrestling with an $8.5 billion shortfall in the amount needed to pay future benefits.
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Editorial - Legislators must act now to reform pension system
March 31, 2001 / News-Register
Taxpayers, both local and state, pick up a healthy tab each year to finance the Public Employee Retirement System. Pensions for nearly all city, school, county and state employees are provided through PERS, a plan that is seriously out of whack.
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Jeb Bladine: PERS updates have a 'catch'
Jan. 31, 2004 / News-Register
If the Oregon Supreme Court declarees the Legislature's action unconstitutional, it's going to take more than Measure 30 to save Oregonians from financial disaster
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Jeb Bladine: Who do 'we' sue?
July 26, 2003 / News-Register
The system was supposed to protect both public employees and taxpayers, but something went wrong.
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Cascade Policy Institute: Fix PERS to fix budget
Feb. 3, 2003 / Cascade Policy Institute
PERS is Oregon's greatest fiscal problem, and governor's proposal to replace it with a defined benefit pension plan will set Oregon up for future crises.
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Jeb Bladine: PERS policy disregards taxpayers
Jan. 25, 2003 / News-Register
Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System poured money into individual retirement accounts and disregarded the well-being of Oregon taxpayers. Did that shock you? Well, it shouldn't.
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Cascade Policy Institute: Shut down PERS Now
Dec. 5, 2002 / Cascade Policy Institute
Two of the state's most prominent economists, Cascade chairman William Conerly, Ph.D. and advisor Randall Pozdena, Ph.D., are calling for the system to be shut down — tomorrow if possible.
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Jeb Bladine: You, too, can be a PERS expert
Nov. 30, 2002 / News-Register
Do you hesitate to join the debate on PERS because you're unsure how the system works? Well here, in half a nutshell, is how things go with Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System:
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Jeb Bladine: It's not enough to do no wrong
Oct. 12, 2002 / News-Register
Let's not turn this into a personal mugging of good people who haven't done anything wrong. But also, let's not forget that doing nothing wrong isn't enough. It's time for people to do something right.
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Francis Charbonnier: PERS analysis (executive summary)
June 22, 2002 / Special to the News-Register
Escalating costs of the Public Employee Retirement System are becoming a crushing burden on local governments and state agencies. The system is out of control, an intolerable burden on all Oregonians, and urgently needs reform. It will severely impact the quality of education in Oregon.
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Francis Charbonnier: PERS analysis (full article)
June 21, 2002 / Special to the News-Register
McMinnville School Board member Francis Charbonnier's extensive article on the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System. An edited version of the Executive Summary appeared in the June 22 News-Register.
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Jeb Bladine: We all were in on the conspiracy
June 1, 2002 / News-Register
If you don't like numbers, you're at the wrong place. But if you enjoy basic math and have a strong stomach, grab your calculator, settle down and buckle up:
Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System, serving 293,000 current and former government workers, is $8.5 billion in the red. That's $29,000 per worker.
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Richard Leonetti: Public employee pensions overload taxpayers
March 31, 2001 / Special to News-Register
Because of several extras - including inaccurate actuarial tables, automatic 2 percent annual cost-of-living increases and other ad-hoc cash benefits - PERS employers provide somewhere between a 158- and 350-percent match of the total of the employee contributions.
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