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OTHER VIEWS Other Views: PERS ruling leaves little room to maneuver Comment By Corvallis Gazette-Times MailTribune.com By Corvallis Gazette-Times Posted May. 23, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Corvallis Gazette-Times Posted May. 23, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News If Oregon government officials were looking for good news from the Supreme Court's recent ruling rejecting most of the reforms legislators made to the state's Public Employee Retirement System, it was hard to find. Well, there was this sliver: The full budgetary impact of the decision won't kick in until the start of the 2017 fiscal year. But when the Legislature begins work on the 2017-19 budget, it will start some $319 million in the hole, according to a memo last year from the Legislative Fiscal Office. (The office was asked to assess budget implications should the Supreme Court overturn the PERS reforms.) And that's just for state agencies. The state's school districts will be staring at a $358 million gap, the office concluded. Overall, the court's ruling wipes out most of the estimated $5 billion in system-wide accrued liabilities the reforms were expected to save. (The court ruled that it was unconstitutional to adjust cost-of-living adjustments for past service. The court said it was OK to change those adjustments moving forward and allowed some other reforms to stand, but the ruling eliminates some 90 percent of the estimated savings.) Considering that looming $600 million-plus budget hole, you would expect legislators to be looking hard at other potential PERS reforms to help toss at least a little dirt in the hole. In fact, that 2014 memo from the Legislative Fiscal Office outlined some contingency options legislators could consider, including limiting some payroll costs, setting aside funding to mitigate the potential 2017-19 PERS rate increase and revisiting remaining statutory reform options. Some of that may be taking place in Salem — work continues on the state budget, and it might be a good idea as that process goes on to earmark some additional dough for the state's reserves. But there appears to be no appetite in the Legislature to pursue any sort of major PERS reform. Considering that, the least the Legislature could do would be to hope that the state's economic recovery continues to gather steam — and to make sure that it doesn't do anything to derail that recovery. But so far, the signs from the Legislature aren't promising. The session already has renewed the state's Clean Fuels Program, a decision that likely jettisoned chances for a transportation package — something that really could have boosted the economy. Meanwhile, the Legislature continues to ponder measures that could stall the economic recovery, including minimum-wage increases and sick-leave proposals. The Legislature's first step toward filling this multimillion-dollar PERS hole should be to make sure that it's not digging any deeper. By Corvallis Gazette-Times MailTribune.com By Corvallis Gazette-Times Posted May. 23, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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