By KRWG News
New Mexico – The administrator of a government worker pension fund says there's no need to increase payroll contribution rates to shore up the program because of investment losses over the past year.
Terry Slattery, executive director of the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico, made the comment to legislators on Wednesday in outlining how the pension fund was rebounding as financial markets improved.
PERA returned almost 11.9 percent during the quarter that ended on June 30. The pension fund's assets were valued at nearly $9.1 billion at midyear, a quarterly gain of $870 million.
However, the fund has suffered double-digit investment losses during the past year. The fund's asset value is down $3 billion or almost 26 percent since mid-2008.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.