NY pension fund reports annual returns of 14.6 pct

ALBANY, N.Y. — The state’s pension fund for public workers on Thursday reported 14.6 percent earnings returns for the fiscal year that ended in March, raising the fund’s value, after payouts, to an estimated $146.5 billion — its highest level since the global economic downturn in 2008.

The Common Retirement Fund for about 672,000 state and local government employees and more than 385,000 pensioners and beneficiaries rose from $140.6 billion at the end of its third quarter and $132.6 billion a year earlier.

The fund’s trustee, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, said it remained “resilient” during a tough period.

“There still are reasons to be cautious about the ongoing recovery, but the results are a good sign that the fund has weathered the worst of the downturn,” he said.

The fund dropped from its historic high of about $154 billion in spring 2008 to $110 billion a year later as the economy stopped growing and stocks tumbled.

According to the comptroller’s office, the past year’s returns were 17.6 percent from domestic equities, 14.3 percent from international equities and 26.7 percent from real estate. The fund’s core fixed-income investments returned 8 percent.

By its own calculations, the fund’s performance beat the 12.7 percent Dow Jones and 12.4 percent Standard & Poor’s index gains, but not the 15.7 percent return of the Nasdaq index, comptroller’s spokesman Eric Sumberg said.

“We think it certainly compares favorably to the indices,” he said.

In September, the fund lowered its assumed investment rate of return from 8 percent to 7.5 percent and DiNapoli announced an increase in contributions for state and local governments for pensions starting in 2012. The average contribution rate will rise from 11.9 percent of salaries to 16.3 percent. The average for the police and fire retirement system will rise from 18.2 percent to 21.6 percent.