30
Wednesday, August 2, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Oregon board cuts pension-
investment expectations
WHYCHUS: Volunteers
are vital to success
of project
Continued from page 3
TIGARD (AP) — The
board overseeing Oregon’s
public pension system has
lowered assumptions about
how much return the system
will make on its investments.
The
Oregonian /
OregonLive reports the board
voted unanimously Friday to
cut assumed earnings from
7.5 percent to 7.2 percent.
The change will increase the
system’s unfunded liability
from $22 billion to more than
$24 billion, forcing govern-
ment employers to boost their
required contributions into
the system.
Market experts said a 7.5
percent return was too rosy
an outlook. But lowering
expectations too much, even
if realistic, was politically
difficult because of the bud-
get problems it would cause
school districts and other
governments.
“This was a prudent
action,” said Steve Rodeman,
executive director of the
Public Employee Retirement
System.
Others disagreed.
P o r t l a n d Tr e a s u r e r
Jennifer Cooperman said the
board missed an opportu-
nity to take more aggressive
action.
“The City of Portland
strongly supports recogniz-
ing the full PERS liability,”
she said. “The city has no
interest in pretending that
the PERS liability is any less
than it truly is. The city has
always paid our full actuari-
ally required contribution and
intends to keep doing so, in
compliance with ORS and
internal city policy.”
The new assumed earn-
ings rate, which takes effect
in 2019, also falls short of the
Oregon Investment Council’s
recommendation of 7.1 per-
cent. The citizens panel that
oversees PERS investments
had adopted an internal esti-
mate of 7.1 percent, based on
projections by a consultant
that does the most detailed
analysis of Oregon’s invest-
ment portfolio, as well as
those of four other consul-
tants. But its recommendation
is not binding on the PERS
Board.
The Oregon Legislature
adjourned earlier this month
without making changes to
the state’s pension system.
House Republican leader
Rep. Mike McLane, R-Powell
Butte, called today’s vote
a “sobering reminder” for
lawmakers.
“As our pension debt con-
tinues to explode, so does the
burden placed on our schools
and local governments,” he
said. “We cannot ignore this
problem any longer. It is well
past time for us to act. If our
current cast of politicians in
Salem are unwilling to con-
front this problem head on,
then perhaps it is time for new
leaders to take their places.”
new insights about the health
of Whychus Creek from each
year’s data, according to
Mork.
“New kinds (taxa) of
macroinvertebrates found in
Whychus in 2016, and higher
numbers of sensitive taxa and
taxa associated with flow-
ing water, suggest improved
biological conditions and a
healthier aquatic community
since 2009,” Mork told The
Nugget. “This change sug-
gests a biological response to
stream flow restoration that
increased late-summer flow
in Whychus Creek from 2005
to 2009. However, data from
2016 also provide support for
an emerging warming trend
in Whychus Creek that may
signal a response to a chang-
ing climate, with 2014-2016
the three warmest years on
record.”
In 2017 the event will add
three sites at the Whychus
Canyon restoration proj-
ect, where the stream was
diverted into new chan-
nels across the historic
floodplain.
“Sites up and down
Whychus Creek will help
PHOTO BY MARISA HOSSICK
Volunteers count macroinvertebrates on Whychus Creek.
us understand what condi-
tions in the creek are like for
macroinvertebrates — and
other aquatic life, not least
redband trout — this year, at
multiple stream restoration
projects, and after our long
snowy winter, and how those
conditions compare to earlier
years,” Mork explained.
For mjore informa-
tion, contact Mork at 541-
382-6103 x39 or lmork@
restorethedeschutes.org.
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