...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 23, 2017--S&P Global Ratings today said that Connecticut's recent memorandum of understanding with its labor unions to change various pension funding assumptions of the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) has a mildly positive credit impact on the state. The agreement will allow the state to avoid a potential spike in pension contributions in 10 years by pushing out the amortization period of Connecticut's unfunded pension liabilities, but it does not significantly change near-term general fund pension contributions nor change any pension benefits. In the upcoming biennium, the state will pay $4 million less in fiscal 2017 than it would have if the previous 8.0% rate of return assumption and payment schedule were used and $108 million more in fiscal 2019. At the same time, the agreement lowers the investment rate of return assumption to a less aggressive 6.9%. We believe that this would have caused significantly higher contributions in fiscal years...
