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Saturday, October 11, 2014

A Beginner's Guide to PSPRS and Defined Benefit Pensions

The League of Arizona Cities and Towns ("the League") and the Arizona City/County Management Association (ACMA) and the Government Finance Officers Association of Arizona (GFOAz) has created a Pension Task Force.  Normally, when a committee or task force is formed it is bureaucrat-speak for "let's try and make it look like we are concerned about an issue when we really have no intention of doing anything about it."  However, in this case the League and its partners seem to be serious about their work.

Since June 24, 2014 when the Task Force was initiated, they have held five meetings, which alone indicates a level of urgency and seriousness, but if you go to the Pension Task Force homepage, you can see another surprising thing--there is actually a wealth of information there about PSPRS and defined benefit (DB) pensions that is accessible to the layperson.

This information is available to anyone interested, though you will need Powerpoint software to access some of it.  There are presentations by PSPRS staff, their actuary, and their lawyer, advocacy groups with differing views about DB pensions, and other outside organizations with research and  opinions about DB pensions.

The League and its partners deserve big thanks for the work they are doing both to understand PSPRS and any potential reforms and educate the rest of us.  If you want a crash course in PSPRS and DB pensions, the Task Force homepage is the best place I have seen to get one.

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