State employees' pensions might carry big price tag

"Might"? Whoever wrote the headline for this Patriot-News story on the looming pension crisis should have read the story. Even the plan administrators at PSERS and SERS don't see a way to avert the 2012 increase in taxpayer contributions to the government employees' plans.

What is not mentioned in this story is the other side of the coin: the coming retiree healthcare crisis. This fiscal note is not fully known because the Rendell Administration is either

A) slow to get moving on the 2007 GASB requirement that state government start recognizing healthcare liabilities on its ledger sheets, or

B) they already know the costs (which are probably staggering) but are sitting on them until after the election, and will then spin them into a massive tax increase next year for both pension and healthcare liabilities.