NJ Pension Shortfall Grows More Than $8B
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey's beleaguered pension system for public workers has plunged into a deeper hole.
State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff announced Thursday that the pension fund's unfunded liability has grown to about $53.9 billion, up more than $8 billion over the last fiscal year.
Altogether, New Jersey's pension system is 62 percent funded.
The data released Thursday includes all pensions for state, school, local and public safety workers. It's drawn from actuaries' estimates of the number of future retirees, their salaries and expected return on pension funds' investments.
Gov. Chris Christie this year skipped a $3.1 billion pension payment and has said the state might not be able to make a half-billion-dollar contribution next year.
Christie has proposed several reforms, including measures that would roll back a 9 percent pensions increase granted by the Legislature in 2001 and raising worker pension contribution rates to a uniform 8.5 percent.
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