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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced this week that his office is working on an audit of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s pension plans.</p><p>In a news release, DePasquale said state auditors began their review Oct. 18. The purpose of the audit, the release says, is in part to determine if officials are operating the city&#8217;s pension plans in a legal manner, and if they took corrective action to address findings from a January 2017 audit.</p><p>DePasquale has been warning since that report that the continued payout of &#8220;unauthorized service buybacks&#8221; would lead to further issues with the city&#8217;s five pension plans: two each for the city&#8217;s police and fire departments, and a fifth for non-uniformed employees.</p><p>&#8220;The continuing challenges facing the City of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s municipal pension plans demonstrate the growing need for statewide pension reform,&#8221; DePasquale said in the release. &#8220;Until such legislation is enacted, it is essential that plans take steps to ensure they have the necessary resources to meet future obligations.&#8221;</p><p>This comes as the latest in a series of audits largely focused on the service buyback provision in the city&#8217;s plans, where employees would be able to buy back all the time they put into a previous city pension and put it into their current pension. That would increase payouts.</p><p>DePasquale refers to these as &#8220;unauthorized&#8221; benefits, and recommended scrapping them in at least the two most recent audits.</p><p>In the 2017 report, DePasquale points to a worsening funding ratio over time in the city&#8217;s budget. In 2011, the city had a value of assets of $83,704,642 and an accrued liability of $115,389,957, leading to a funding ratio of 72.5 percent.</p><p>But by 2015, the city&#8217;s value of assets was $80,985,791 and the accrued liability was $130,436,535, leading to a funding ratio of just 62.1 percent.</p><p>DePasquale said then the city is in &#8220;Level II moderate distress&#8221; status.</p><p>This new audit will look at the period between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2017. It will likely be done by early 2019.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">DePasquale </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_DePasquale-cmyk_ne201811118498306.jpg</photo0><caption0>DePasquale </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Auditor General’s office looking into Wilkes-Barre pensions