Government Retiree Costs to Be Put in the Spotlight .Accounting rules will require states and localities to add unfunded benefit obligations to their books

The Wall Street Journal reports:

State and local governments will have to add hundreds of billions of dollars in retiree obligations to their books under rules enacted Tuesday that spotlight the growing costs of health insurance and other benefits owed to former municipal employees.

The new rules approved unanimously by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting rules for states and municipalities, will require governments to carry their unfunded retiree-benefit obligations on their balance sheets—thus making their overall financial position look worse. Currently, governments are required only to disclose the benefit costs in the footnotes to their financial statements.

In addition, governments will have to use more conservative interest-rate assumptions in calculating the value of benefit obligations that they haven’t funded. That could increase the current value of the obligations, thus worsening the plans’ funding shortfalls.

The changes are intended to provide more information to taxpayers, policy makers and municipal-bond analysts, GASB Chairman David Vaudt said in a statement. The rules won’t require governments to commit more money to pay for retiree benefits, nor do they require any changes in the level of benefits provided to retirees. But by making benefit costs more visible, the changes could prompt more governments to take action to address rising benefit costs.

Muni bond holders beware...