State Police pension fund to get boost

State Police pensions will receive an additional $8.9 million in the coming year.

Changes to the State Police system’s schedule for paying off debt is the main cause for an increase in employer contribution rates, from 27.3 percent this year to 41.3 percent in the upcoming fiscal year, actuary Charles Hall said.

The rates for State Police and three other state retirement systems were approved last week by the Public Retirement Systems’ Actuarial Committee.

Every state retirement system has debt for unfunded benefits that it pays down over multiple years, usually a 30-year period. Most of the debts were initially paid off through increasing payment schedules but were eventually leveled off to save money in the long run, Hall said.

The employer contribution rates for the three other state retirement systems, which were put on level debt payment schedules in 2004, did not fluctuate by even a full percentage point.

The Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System changes slightly from 18.5 percent this year to 18.6 percent in the upcoming year, which for most agencies starts on July 1, 2009. Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana employer rates remain the same at 15.5 percent. Louisiana School Employees’ Retirement System rates went down from slightly from 17.8 percent to 17.6 percent.