2 weeks of dieting can be traumatic

Make sure your insurance fits your needs

First Posted: 1/15/2015 Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s ranking among the top 10 cities in the state owing the most money to their pension plans didn&#8217;t bother Mayor Thomas Leighton.
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale released a report Wednesday of municipal pension funds that listed Wilkes-Barre 10th with a net unfunded liability of $40.3 million, based on updated actuarial data of January 2013.
The city has combined assets for its five pension plans totalling $80.6 million and liabilities of $120.9 million with a funding ratio of 67 percent, according to the report. The percentage placed it in the moderately distressed level for plans with ratios between 50 and 69 percent.
Leighton disputed the ratio for the city and said it was approximately 69 percent.
&#8220;We&#8217;re actually in pretty good shape,&#8221; he said Thursday, noting Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s plans had a funding ratio three times better than Scranton&#8217;s 23 percent.
The report categorized the neighboring city in Lackawanna as severely distressed with assets of $43.7 million and liabilities of $194 million.
Wilkes-Barre makes the minimum monthly obligation contributions to the plans &#8212; two each for the fire and police departments and one for the non-uniformed employees &#8212; as mandated by state and they&#8217;re better off than other cities, Leighton said.
Hazleton, the only other Luzerne County city on the list, trailed in 11th place with $31 million in unfunded liabilities. But Hazleton landed the 23rd spot among the the top 25 municipalities with the largest percentage of unfunded liabilities. Hazleton had a 50 percent funding ratio and like Wilkes-Barre was in the moderately distressed level, according to the report.
The Public Employee Retirement Commission determines whether a plan is distressed based on the combined level of funding of all the plans offered by a municipality.
DePasquale issued his report as a call for action by the governor and lawmakers &#8220;to intervene,&#8221; pointing out that, according to the updated data, the unfunded liability statewide has increased by $1 billion to $7.7 billion between 2011 and 2013. The plans are the &#8220;legal responsibility&#8221; of each municipality&#8217;s taxpayers and the recipients of the pensions and employees could be at risk if nothing is done to address the problem, he said.
&#8220;Of the 1,223 municipal governments that administer pension plans, 562 now have pension plans that are distressed,&#8221; DePasquale said. &#8220;The problem is not going away. Clearly the underfunded municipal pension liability must be addressed before the long-ignored crisis cripples state and local taxpayers.&#8221;