A majority of states -- including Indiana -- are not putting away enough money to pay for their public employee retirement costs, a new report concludes.
Indiana was among the 31 states whose pension programs were less than 80 percent funded in 2009, according to a report to be released today by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.
Indiana funded 67 percent of its pension liability, down from 72 percent in 2008 . . .
Pensions are one of the remaining issues before the Indiana General Assembly as it works to complete a new state budget this week. The Senate wants to send extra money to the state's teacher pension plan if reserves hit 12 percent of operating funds at the end of the biennium. Gov. Mitch Daniels and the House want the state to give an automatic tax refund to individual income tax filers if reserves hit 10 percent.
The state and the City of Indianapolis have long short-changed pension contributions as a way of tricking taxpayers into believing they are balancing the budget. An earlier study suggested Indiana's pension system will go bankrupt by 2019 if it continues on its current course of funding and spending.
