Nevada's pension costs 2nd highest nationwide

Nevada’s pension costs 2nd highest nationwide

Good Governance

| September 15, 2017

At 10.3 percent of combined state and local government own-source revenue, Nevada spends more on public pensions than any other state in the nation besides Illinois.

This is according to just-released figures from the Public Plan Database — a joint venture between the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the Center for State and Local Government Excellence.

The National Association of State Retirement Administrators — a public pension advocacy group currently run by former Nevada PERS executive officer Dana Bilyeu — supports the Database by providing “review and assistance on the development of data models, validation of data, and development and administration of surveys.”

Click here for a brief primer on Nevada PERS, here for a white paper documenting PERS legislative history or select the PERS tab from the issues menu to read all of NPRI’s analyses on PERS.

Robert Fellner

Robert Fellner joined the Nevada Policy in December 2013. Robert has written extensively on the issue of transparency in government. He has also developed and directed Nevada Policy’s public-interest litigation strategy, which led to two landmark victories before the Nevada Supreme Court. The first resulted in a decision that expanded the public’s right to access government records, while the second led to expanded taxpayer standing for constitutional challenges in Nevada. An expert on government compensation and its impact on taxes, Robert has authored multiple studies on public pay and pensions. He has been published in Business Insider, Forbes.com, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, RealClearPolicy.com, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, ZeroHedge.com and elsewhere. Robert has lived in Las Vegas since 2005 when he moved to Nevada to become a professional poker player. Robert has had a remarkably successfully poker career including two top 10 World Series of Poker finishes and being ranked #1 in the world at 10/20 Pot-Limit Omaha cash games. Additionally, his economic analysis on the minimum wage won first place in a 2011 George Mason University essay contest. He also independently organized a successful grassroots media and fundraising effort for a 2012 presidential candidate, before joining the campaign in an official capacity.