1. Ranking Florida’s City and County Sponsored OPEBs
David S. T. Matkin
Assistant Professor
Vice Chair Dept. of Public Administration & Policy
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy
University at Albany, SUNY
Research Fellow
LeRoy Collins Institute
Florida State University
Faculty Fellow
Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government
SUNY
@davidmatkin
Patrick Orecki, MPA
Analyst
Division of Budget
State of New York

2. Ranking the Locally-Sponsored OPEBs
What is an OPEB?
Other Postemployment Benefits
Actuarially Valued Liabilities for Retiree Healthcare Subsidies
Explicit or Implicit
Locally Sponsored?
Trustees at the local government level
Stand-alone or supplemental to FRS
All local governments have an OPEB plan
Most local governments only have one OPEB plan

3. Research Methods Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports
Fiscal Years 2008 to 2014
All Counties (66 total)
100 largest Cities
N = 1,162 (967 provide sufficient data)
Basic Financial Data
Population Data
Asset & Liability – OPEBs
Funding Activity – OPEBs

4. Ranking Considerations
Size of the Unfunded Liability
Assets / Liability
Unfunded Liability (Liability – Assets)
Unfunded Liability / Population
Unfunded Liability / General Revenues
Effort to Prefund the Liability
Pay-as-you-go (Paygo)
Prefund
Regularly or Occasionally

6. FY 2014

7. FY 2014

8. Grading - FY 2014

9. Grading - FY 2014 A C D B F

10. Grading Distribution

11. Governments Receiving “F” Grades in FY 2014
Cities:
Cape Coral (1.91), Hialeah (2.54), Hollywood (2.44), Miami (1.63), & Venice (1.22)
Counties
Martin (3.19), Monroe (2.61), & Pinellas (1.74)

12. Governments Receiving “B” Grades in FY 2014
Cities:
Lakeland (2.34), Miami Beach (0.83), Orlando (0.79), Pembroke Pines (0.63), Sarasota City (1.56), Tallahassee (0.61) , Titusville (1.55)
Counties
Lee (1.19)

13. Individual Government Rankings
See Handouts
Grades
UAAL / General Revenue
City and County separate for ease
no significant differences in distribution
Bolded if sponsor an explicit benefit

14. Q & A

15. Other Items I’m Working On
Simulations of Public Pensions
Understand role of Actuarial Inputs
Exposure to Market Risk
Accuracy in Financial Reporting
Benford’s Law
LCI’s LOGER data