Large state pension gap continues

By MATTHEW HALL
Capital News Service
LANSING – The state government’s obligations to its public employees are increasingly unfunded, according to Senate Fiscal Agency data. The state employees’ pension fund, for example, was about 99 percent funded in 2002. That’s decreased to little more than 60 percent in 2012, leaving a liability of $6.2 billion. That amount could buy the U.S. Navy a twelfth aircraft carrier. Data about the shortfall comes at a time when most public and press attention is focused on the pension liabilities of financially troubled local governments, especially Detroit.