Colorado’s public pension fund saw a 7.3 percent return in 2016, narrowly meeting its benchmark after directors lowered expectations at the last-minute.
The state’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association released its annual financial report Friday touting the $3 billion in net investment income last year even as the director called the fund’s risk profile “too high.”
The unfunded liability increased 20 percent to $32.2 billion after the PERA board lowered investment return projections in November from 7.5 percent to 7.25 percent and revised its numbers to reflect that its members are living longer.
PERA provides retirement benefits to 568,000 current and former public employees. And the latest report is only expected to increase the scrutiny of its management as lawmakers prepare to address its mounting liabilities in the next legislative session.
State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, a Republican and the only state elected official on the PERA board, did not immediately return a message left at his office seeking comment.
