Other Resources | School + State Finance Project

Report on Connecticut's SERS and TRS

Written by Center for Retirement Research at Boston College | Nov 1, 2015 10:57:00 PM

A comprehensive report, from researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, that examines the fiscal health of Connecticut's two largest public sector retirement systems: the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS).

In addition to projecting the systems' finances going forward and presenting "alternatives to shore up the systems' finances and improve budget flexibility," the report, which was requested by the State of Connecticut, looks at the State's unfunded liabilities for both systems and the factors that have caused those unfunded liabilities to increase significantly over the years.

The report finds "[t]hree factors underlie the current unfunded liability of SERS and TRS: 1) legacy costs from benefits promised before the systems were pre-funded; 2) inadequate contributions once the State decided to pre-fund; and 3) low investment returns relative to the assumed return since 2000."

Citation
Aubry, J., & Munnell, A.H. (2015). Final Report on Connecticut's State Employees Retirement System and Teachers' Retirement System. Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Retrieved from http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Final-Report-on-CT-SERS-and-TRS_November-2015.pdf.