Rhode Island’s Retirement Board approved employer contribution rates for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 on Wednesday.
Total state and local pension payments are projected to top $400 million in those years, just as they did in 2015.
From the Providence Journal:
New contribution rates approved by the state Retirement Board on Wednesday will require state and local payments into the pension fund of a projected $171.2 million for state employees, and $237.3 million for teachers during the budget year that begins on July 1, 2016.
At those projected payment levels, state and local taxpayers will pay a total of $408.5 million in fiscal year 2017, compared with a potential $411.6 million during the budget year beginning July 1, 2015, according to information the state’s actuary provided the Retirement Board chaired by General Treasurer and Governor-elect Gina Raimondo.
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While most state employees are now required to contribute 3.75 percent of their pay toward their reduced defined-benefit pensions, the actuaries recommended the state share go from 23.65 percent of payroll to 23.78 percent come July 1, 2016.
And while teachers also contribute 3.75 percent of their pay, the state — and the communities that employ them — would pay 22.76 percent of payroll, compared with 23.14 percent a year earlier. (The drop is a result of a lowering of earlier projections of potential teacher salaries.)
The net result: the required contribution to teachers’ pensions will drop from a projected $241,742,873 in the new budget year that begins on July 1, to $237,251,068 the following year, while rising for state employees from a projected $169,811,685 to $171,169,925.
Rhode Island’s pension system for general state employees was 57 percent funded as of June 30. The teachers’ system was 59.6 percent funded as of June 30.
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