The Center for Retirement Research

This is an excellent source for information on public pension plans - - the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.  A recent study by the center found that annual pension payments for state and local plans more than doubled to 15.7% of payrolls in 2011 from 6.4% a decade earlier.

The front page of the Wall Street Journal today puts the era of pension tension into perspective - - "Hard Times Spread for Cities" - - rising health, pension costs top the list of municipalities struggle for recover from the recession.  This probably sums up the current municipal environment the best:

"Cities are still going to be facing very rough water for the next couple of years," sand Michale Pagano, dean of the college of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago.