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Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA)

      Justin is proud to have State Treasurer Walker Stapleton supporting and advising his campaign.  Walker has taken a lead on diffusing this ticking time-bomb for taxpayers.

      Colorado’s government employee pension program is in trouble.  Estimates state that PERA is somewhere between a $21 billion and $41 billion unfunded liability.  To put this in perspective: our entire state budget is $20 billion.  Self-interested individuals have been overseeing PERA, and have been doling out unsustainable benefits, including early retirement at a significant portion of the retirees salary.  In November of 2011, PERA was still counting on an 8% return, and this is completely unrealistic.

Three Short-term Fixes For PERA:

1.  Change the make-up of the PERA Board from PERA enrollees to actual financial professionals that don’t have a self-interest.
2. Change the benefits, and raise the retirement age for PERA (again).
3. Switch from a defined benefits plan (You are guaranteed X amount of dollars when you retire at age X), to a defined contribution plan (you contribute part of your salary, and the market will dictate what you get when you retire).

If you are seeking my position on any other issues, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I will try to answer promptly.