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Commission backs task force resolution urging earlier bill filing and pension accounting fixes
Summary
The Commission reviewed the Governor's Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review resolution urging bills be filed by session start, asking the General Assembly to pay the state share of retirement directly to VRS, and seeking more local representation on the VRS board; the task force will ask local governments to adopt the resolution.
The Commission on Local Government reviewed actions by the Governor's Task Force for Local Government Mandate Review and discussed pension accounting concerns and a resolution for the General Assembly.
Zachary Robbins reported that the task force drafted a resolution asking the General Assembly to introduce legislation no later than the first day of the session and that the resolution had been forwarded to local governments with a request that they adopt it. He said the task force is concerned about forthcoming GASB standards requiring pension obligations to be recorded on local balance sheets and that the task force passed a resolution urging the General Assembly to pay the state share of retirement directly to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) rather than funneling payments through local channels, which staff said would keep some obligations off local books. The task force also recommended increasing local representation on the VRS board and asked to better define its future purpose and extend its sunset beyond 2014.
Mr. Robbins said the task force's next meeting is Feb. 19 in Richmond. The minutes reflect the report and the task force's request for local government adoption of the resolution; no formal Commission action on the resolution itself was recorded at this meeting.
