El Dorado County faces $264 mil. in unfunded pension liability
By Loretta Kalb, Sacramento Bee
After four years of budget downsizing and job cuts and an economy only now starting to move, El Dorado County is left with this:
The county’s unfunded liability for its CalPERS pensions exceeds $264 million; that’s up $172 million in just one 12-month cycle.
“It’s a huge problem,” county Auditor-Controller Joe Harn said last week, “and the solution is going to be extremely painful.”
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is asking local governments throughout the state to contribute significantly more for employee pensions this year, in large part to cover investment losses.
El Dorado County’s budget faces a projected $7 million deficit in 2011-12. Supervisors will look to close that gap in the coming months.
So far, the effects of the budget travails aren’t all that obvious in the county, which has about 148,000 residents.
“We have tried to do our best to minimize the impact to the public,” El Dorado County principal analyst Mike Applegarth said.