PERS

The Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, better known as PERS, is the state’s ailing defined benefit pension program. Right now, the fund has a $16.6 billion unfunded liability, meaning the contributions of state and municipal employees and income from the plan’s investments aren’t enough to cover present and future benefits for retirees. 

It was a move that everyone who has followed the problems of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) of Mississippi has known was coming for years. PERS recently announced its board of trustees voted to increase the amount of employer contributions from worker salaries for the pension fund to 17.4 percent, starting July 1, 2019.

A recently released report by the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) Committee of the Mississippi Legislature attempts to address the fiscal issues with Mississippi’s pension system for state, municipal and county employees, but doesn’t go far enough to offer solutions to fix the ailing fund. The report mentions that the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi’s fiscal goal of reaching the 80 percent funding ratio by 2042 is not attainable.

According to data from the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) given to retirees, often in a year-ending lump sum known as the “13th check,” is threatening to hollow out the pension fund’s finances. 

PERS and the state’s budgetary issues are two main reasons for the downgrade.