Pension numbers increase budget pressure on Florida lawmakers - Lloyd Dunkelberger, News Service of Florida

State analysts agreed Thursday to lower the expected rate of return on Florida’s $154 billion pension fund, which will put more pressure on lawmakers as they craft a new state budget. The decrease from a 7.6 percent return to 7.5 percent will require an additional $124 million in state funding in the 2018-2019 budget to keep the pension fund financially sound, according to the state’s long-range fiscal analysis. It’s the fourth year in a row that analysts, meeting as the Florida Retirement System Actuarial Assumption Conference, have lowered the assumed rate of return on the pension fund, which was 7.75 percent in 2013. Amy Baker, coordinator for the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, said more adjustments can be expected given long-term projections for the national and global economies. http://www.theledger.com/news/20171005/pension-numbers-increase-budget-pressure-on-florida-lawmakers