Cities and states are facing unprecedented demands to maintain fiscal stability in the face of economic crisis.
While states and localities focus on the day-to-day demands of governing, they must also contend with long-term obligations to pension programs, retiree health benefits, workers compensation programs and infrastructure investments.
West Virginia University’s Division of Public Administration will address these issues with a Symposium on Long-term Unfunded and Underfunded Liability on Nov. 11, as part of its annual MPA Residency.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Erickson Alumni Center in Morgantown.
L. Christopher Plein, chair and professor of the Division of Public Administration and organizer of the residency, said there is widespread concern that governments are not well-positioned to manage these long-term liabilities and that our current economic crisis has intensified these pressures as cash-strapped governments find it difficult to adequately fund these obligations.
“Many states had been underfunding their pension obligations and other non-pension benefits even before the recent recession contributed to significant state revenue shortfalls,” said Ann Battle Macheras, a symposium moderator and regional research vice president for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
“By delaying funding of long-term debt obligations, states end up facing higher costs in the future, which exacerbates their debt problems and limits their flexibility in spending on other important public services such as education. The consequence of states’ decisions regarding their long-term debt therefore has implications for the broader economy.”
The one-day symposium, featuring policymakers, academics, and experts, will address the scope and breadth of long-term debt issues and describe how some states are dealing with these concerns. The group will discuss unfunded and underfunded liabilities as it affects West Virginia and other states and explore how West Virginia dealt with one long-term liability problem by reinventing its workers’ compensation system.
The event will be organized into four sessions, including a morning plenary, a panel on the scope and breadth of the issues facing the states, a roundtable luncheon and an afternoon panel focusing on workers’ compensation reform in West Virginia.
“West Virginia has made the effort to get our financial house in order. Workers’ Compensation is a prime example of taking on these important issues,” said West Virginia Senator Brooks McCabe.
“Workers’ Comp was having a detrimental effect on individual businesses and the West Virginia business community as a whole. In 2004-05, we may well have had the worst Workers’ Comp situation in the country. We may now be the best example of a turnaround on that issue, and that’s because we made the public and private comprehensive effort.”
Guest speakers include: McCabe; Macheras; WV Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline; Greg Burton, CEO of workers’ comp provider Brickstreet Mutual; Thomas Gais, Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government; Greg Devereaux, chief administrative officer of San Bernadino County, California; Gary Wagner, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; and various faculty from across West Virginia University including: Provost Michele Wheatly; Joyce McConnell, dean of the College of Law; Tom Witt, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research; and Plein, assistant dean of the School of Applied Social Sciences and Eberly Professor of Public Service.
This event is sponsored by the West Virginia University Division of Public Administration in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business and Economics and the College of Law. Additional support is provided by The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Conference registration is free, but there is limited space. For a complete agenda and to register for all or part of the symposium, please visit eberly.wvu.edu.
For more information, contact Plein at (304) 293-2614 ext. 37974 or Chris.Plein@mail.wvu.edu.
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