David Coates to speak on Vermont’s $3 billion pension problem

As of June 30, 2011, the state of Vermont owed $3.0 billion in unfunded pension and retiree health benefits for state employees and teachers. This figure was approximately six times the stateâ s outstanding general fund, transportation fund and special fund general obligation bond debt on the same date.
How Vermont got into this enormous problem, and how it can work its way out, is the subject of a Sheraton Economic Series talk by David Coates, on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, at 7:00 pm in the University Amphitheatre at the Sheraton Burlington Conference Center. The public is invited.
David Coates CPA serves on the Commission on the Design and Funding of Retirement and Retiree Health Benefits Plans for State Employees and Teachers, as well as the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors, the Governor's Advisory Board for Economic Development, the Vermont Debt Affordability Advisory Committee, and the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank.
In his business career, Coates was managing partner of KPMGâ s Burlington office. He has served on the board of the National Life Group since 1993, and has also held key leadership positions at the New England Culinary Institute. Coates is a Director of Green Mountain Power Corp., A.N. Deringer, Inc., and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The Vermont Chamber of Commerce named Coates as its Citizen of the Year in 2003.
The Sheraton Economic Series is sponsored by the Ethan Allen Institute, hosted by the Sheraton Burlington Conference Center, and cosponsored by the Vermont Economy Newsletter, Vermont Business Magazine, Vermont Tiger, True North Radio, and the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Coates’presentation is also sponsored by the Vermont Business Roundtable and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.