Connecticut state Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, principal fiduciary of the $37 billion Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, Hartford, said he will contribute the excess amount from the budget reserve fund to the Connecticut State Employees' Retirement Fund.
Mr. Wooden plans to transfer the roughly $61.6 million to the $13.8 billion SERF.
"As Connecticut continues to realize the financial impacts due to the ongoing economic shock wave of the pandemic, the growth of the state's BRF is a direct result of smart policy and fiscal discipline that has been practiced over the last few years," Mr. Wooden said Thursday in a news release.
"While we continue to responsibly pay down pension liabilities and work to put the State on a sustainable course, Connecticut must also be forward-thinking in its approach and look to new opportunities that can grow our economy, generate significant job creation, and offer a path to a strong and sustainable economic recovery," he said.
State law requires that whenever the amount in the budget reserve fund equals 15% of the net general fund appropriations for the current fiscal year, the excess is to be transferred to the state plan that's the least funded between SERF or the $17.9 billion Teachers' Retirement Fund. Since SERF is 38.2% funded while TERF's funding ratio is 57.7%, the excess amount went to the former plan.
