Pa. teachers’ pension system projects billions in new costs to arrive in coming years

Pa. teachers’ pension sees billions in costs ahead

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System says it’s going to need more than $4 billion annually in additional taxpayer money in the coming years.

The pension system said Friday that its projected needs will rise from $617 million this year to $1.1 billion in July, and then hit nearly $4.2 billion in July 2012.

Those figures are despite a gain of nearly 9.2 percent on the system’s investments for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Ed Rendell say they’re worried about the 2012 funding spike projected by the teachers’ pension and the smaller state employees pension system. But so far, they haven’t acted to address the problem.

At the end of September, the teachers’ pension fund had net assets of $46 billion.