$195M pension payment might derail Detroit's recovery

The Detroit Free Press reports:

Post-bankruptcy Detroit is obligated to pay little to nothing into employee pensions over the next nine years. But then, an enormous bill comes due that has caught city and pensions officials off-guard, raising doubt about the data used in bankruptcy to calculate the city's obligations.

According to new actuarial estimates in documents reviewed by the Detroit Free Press, the city's balloon payment due in 2024 for its two pension funds has risen to $195 million, or about 71% above the original $114 million projected under the city’s bankruptcy exit plan approved by a federal judge last year. No one has a recently updated forecast yet of what the city's pension bills look like in the decades after that.

"The risk of the whole plan is that in year 10, the city gets an invoice and it’s going to be a big number and how well did they plan for that," Robert C. Smith, chairman of the Detroit Police & Fire Retirement System Investment Committee, said in an interview.

Imagine that. Blue America still can't pay for their pensions EVEN after bankruptcy. Just a reminder.