A new analysis by ETA board member Charles McDermott based on documents from the City of Encinitas and CalPERS shows that Encinitas’ pension underfunding is far worse than city leaders admit.

McDermott uses the actual market value of assets in the pension funds as opposed to CalPERS’ inflated “actuarial” values which pretend that the the funds are worth far more than their actual market values.

The calculations can be seen in this spreadsheet.  The source documents can be found here.

Even the $80 million figure may understate the problem as it still uses CalPERS’ highly optimistic assumption that it will earn 7.75% annually on its investments.   If returns fall short by even a few percent, the underfunding will be far more.  Further, these figures consider only already accrued liabilities for past service, not any pensions for city employee earnings going forward.

The Encinitas Taxpayers Association would welcome a response from city staff, city council, or CalPERS.