Should Missouri County Retirees Be Only Receiving 62% of Their Pension Benefits?

On Thursday, October 27 the board members of the Missouri County Employees Retirement Fund testified before the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.  Sheila Weinberg was shocked when the plan’s actuary, Fred Munzenmaier stated that the counties’ liability for the plan was “nil”.  He went on to say that the plan and counties’ liability was limited to the assets in the plan.

Mr. Munzenmaier went on to quote the law that says, “. . . the board shall apportion the benefits according to the funds available”.  As of June 30, 2010 the plan had assets that represent only 62% of the benefits promised.

Shouldn’t the current retirees be receiving only 62% of their benefits?  If the plan is paying current retirees 100% of the benefits calculated according to the benefits structure, when the plan runs out of money the retired employees will receive nil.