Our friends at the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Pew Center for the States have each recently released reports on the state of state employee pension funds and retiree health care benefits. Both these reports are extremely valuable with useful information.
Fortunately, North Carolina’s pension systems for teachers, state employees, and local government employees are in better shape than those in many other states. There has been and will continue to be pain for employees, governing bodies, and taxpayers as contribution rates increase, but these are potholes compared to the cliff the $30 billion abyss of unfunded future health benefits.
As Sam Hieb pointed out at Piedmont Publius, the Reason Foundation has a number of good ideas to free funds for future liabilities, and we have offered plenty of our own – in budgets, pensions, health care, and total compensation for government employees.
We have seen the future and it is New Jersey. Even New Jersey, though, sees the folly of massive government. If legislators here don’t figure that out soon, North Carolina may go from one of the top destinations for interstate moves to a net exporter of people.
