CHICAGO — Unlike most states, Wisconsin has enough money to pay its pension promises that were previously hidden. This information is released today in a report titled, The Financial State of Wisconsin, by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a Chicago-based think tank that analyzes government financials.
According to TIA’s calculations, Wisconsin’s pension plan is fully funded. However, the state still has $1 billion of retiree health care debt and $538.8 million of that retiree health care debt is excluded off the state’s balance sheet. .
“Wisconsin continues to be a great example of how state pensions should be funded,” said Sheila Weinberg, Founder and CEO of TIA. “However, we encourage state officials to be more transparent about their retiree health care debt.”
Even though Wisconsin’s pension plan is well funded, its retiree health care plan has less than 40 cents for every dollar needed to cover these promised benefits. Currently, state officials have promised $1.6 billion worth of health care benefits, but Wisconsin has only $543 million set aside to pay these benefits.
“Unless these retiree health care benefits are renegotiated, future taxpayers will be burdened with paying for these benefits without receiving any corresponding government services or benefits,” said Weinberg.
TIA researchers recalculated Wisconsin's overall financial position and discovered the state needs $9 billion to completely pay its bills. When this debt is divided amongst Wisconsin taxpayers, each taxpayer owes $4,600 – the state’s taxpayer burden.
Data is derived from the state of Wisconsin's June 30, 2015 audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and retirement plans' actuarial reports.
Founded in 2002, Truth in Accounting is dedicated to educating and empowering citizens with understandable, reliable, and transparent government financial information. Sheila Weinberg is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 30 years of experience in the field.
Contact: Katherine Oxenreiter
312.589.5104
press@truthinaccounting.org
koxenreiter@truthinaccounting.org
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