September 06, 2016 01:00 AM

Shrinking ceiling on public plan funding ratios

Data compiled by publicplansdata.org through 2015 show that as public pension plan funding ratios declined into the mid- to late 2000's, the dispersion among the plans surveyed became more concentrated. The difference between the best- and worst-funded plans was most compressed in 2009, where 87 percentage points separated the top from the bottom.

Funding ratios experienced a modest rebound from their low of 73% in 2012, but not to the extent of the declines of the prior decade.

Data as of 2001 show that 89% of the 109 plans surveyed at the time were above an 80% funding ratio, and 49% of those were above 100% funded. Fourteen years later, 34% of plans surveyed (85) were more than 80% funded and only 3.5% were fully funded.