State Audit Details Pension Liability, Unemployment Fund Deficit
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The annual state audit shows the pension system is more than 50 percent unfunded and has a $788 million unfunded liability for health care benefits.
The Rhode Island Auditor General released the audit for the 2010 fiscal year today. Other findings include:
• The state ended with an unreserved fund balance of about $18 million and $112 million in budget reserves.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST• The state also borrowed $225 million last year from the federal government to pay for unemployment benefits, according to the audit. As of June 30, 2010, the state’s unemployment benefits fund had a deficit of $116 million.
• The audit also reveals that the state’s retirement system had a 42.5 percent unfunded liability, as of June 30, 2009. The unfunded liability for retirees’ health care benefits was $788 million.
• The audit, formally known as the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), was prepared by Acting Auditor General Dennis E. Hoyle.
Read the audit online here: http://controller.admin.ri.gov/index.php