Public pension plans had an average funding ratio of 75.7% as of Dec. 31, according to preliminary results of a survey by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems.
The public funds returned an average 13.5% in 2010 and 8.2% for the 20-year period ended Dec. 31, according to a news release detailing the preliminary findings of the survey.
Eighty-three percent of the 216 survey respondents were from city and county public pension plans and 17% were from state public pension plans. The survey was conducted by Cobalt Community Research in March and April.
A full report on the survey is expected in late spring, according to the news release.
Hank H. Kim, NCPERS executive director and counsel, said in a telephone interview that public pension plans have made more than $760 billion from investment returns from January 2009 to December 2010.