The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel editorial: PERA board runs into reality check
The state’s largest public employee pension system is considering changes – or at least acknowledging that changes may be necessary – to shore up its long-term solvency.
That’s a departure from the steady drumbeat of assurances from PERA officials that a comprehensive reform bill passed in 2010 had largely succeeded in putting the pension plan on track to be fully funded within 30 years – the industry standard.
Greg Smith, the executive director of the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association, spoke to the Sentinel’s editorial board Tuesday, conceding that the PERA board “can’t continue to ignore” X factors in the equation that determines the pension’s actuarial soundness.

