Little has changed in the two years since Business Report detailed the growing fallout of Louisiana’s generous public pensions. In fact, the unfunded accrued liability—the gap between a pension system’s assets and the amount of money needed to pay all of its beneficiaries—has grown to $20 billion. Pending before the Louisiana Legislature is a bill that would allow all four higher education systems, plus the employees of the Board of Regents, to pull out of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana after paying off their portions of the UAL. The reason: To save money. The boards could sell revenue bonds to raise enough money to pay off the long-term debt at a lower cost than what the institutions now pay the Teachers’ Retirement System.
It’s the dirty little secret about government pensions in Louisiana. The billions in unfunded accrued liability debated among legislators, the millions lost on golf courses and questionable hedge funds, and the escalating employer contributions all sound like someone else’s giant fiscal nightmare. But the reality is that this big black hole hits us right where we live, taking money from our children’s classrooms, retarding the growth of our community police and fire departments, and demanding more of our tax dollars than we spend fixing roads, improving parks or providing public transit. Furthermore, the majority of us are footing the bill for retirement benefits that are in some instances far more generous and financially secure than our own.
— From the Feb 5, 20.13 issue of Business Report
+ ALSO IN THAT ISSUE
[lbi_inline_note timestamp=”7:59am on April 16, 2015″]iSTOCK 6198736[/lbi_inline_note]
‘THE TV SAUSAGE FACTORY’: In the days leading up to the NFL playoffs on Sunday, Jan. 6, local fans were sweating whether they would actually be able to watch the games live on television. The CBS playoffs game would have been blacked out on local screens had a contract dispute not been settled between Cox and WAFB-TV parent company Raycom about 36 hours before kickoff. The event revealed an ugly, ongoing battle taking place nationwide that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight.
‘MAKING THE NEWS’: The announcement on The Advocate‘s website late Friday, Jan. 25, that serious talks with an interested buyer are underway took Baton Rouge by storm. The interested buyer is 52-year-old New Orleans businessman John Georges, a multimillionaire with deep pockets, vast holdings, serious political aspirations and more moxie and swagger than Donald Trump. An offer could come soon. What that offer might be is anyone’s guess. The Advocate‘s publisher, David Manship, says the asking price is “a lot more than the paper is worth.”
