San Diego’s pension administrator, David Wescoe, was interviewed on National Public Radio this morning about the economy’s effect on municipal pension funds.
Wescoe, who is the CEO of San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System, said San Diego’s fund is down more than 20 percent since the start of the financial year July 1. But he said it’s too soon to know what practical effect the recent losses will have. Wescoe told NPR’s Alex Cohen:
With San Diego’s pension system, like most pension systems around the country, the current environment in any particular month is less important than the one day a year you take a snapshot of our assets and liabilities, and for us that’s June 30th. So the current economic impact hasn’t had any real impact yet, and we won’t know what — if any — impact it has on the plan until June 30th, when our actuary will take a snapshot.
Wescoe said the market could recover by that time, noting that a new presidential administration will be in place by then and citing plans for a stimulus package. “Who knows where the market will be June 30?” Wescoe said. “But that’s the date it will have an impact on our plan and most around the country.”
He added that San Diego’s plan is invested with a long-term outlook and said it’s important not to overreact. You can listen to the whole interview here.