State loan helps county cover pension liability

Douglas County can pay off its unfunded pension liability.

The county was among $16.1 million in loans approved by the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.

Last month the county board approved seeking a $6 million loan to pay off liability for retirement benefits through the Wisconsin Retirement System.

Had the county not acted, the liability would have remained at $2 million 20 years from now, when the loan will be paid in full, County Administrator Andy Lisak explained to supervisors.

That liability is far less than it would have been if the county paid annually what it owed for present staffing levels. If the county hadn’t “stopped the bleeding” a few years ago on an assessment county officials fought for decades as unfair, that liability could have risen to $18 million, Lisak said.

The county was assessed its liability based on significantly more employees than it had after county officials got out of the nursing home and ambulance businesses.

The state board approved the loan Tuesday.

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