Brad Briner
Brad Briner is running for State Treasurer to address problems and improve the financial performance and soundness of the state pension plans and the State Health Plan for our state employees and retirees.
Brad has been a part of the oversight of financial operations of the state for several years now through his service on the Debt Affordability Advisory Committee to the State Treasurer, and he's proud of North Carolina's AAA bond rating and prudent financial management.
As treasurer, Brad would aim to continue managing the financial operations of the state as they have been by the current Treasurer. The state pension plans, though, have failed to meet their target investment return of 7% for over 20 years, instead delivering only a 6.2% annualized return. While a 0.8% annual shortfall in investment returns may not sound like a meaningful amount, the pension plans manage over $100 billion, making these shortfalls amount to over $800 million annually. State legislators must appropriate the shortfall out of tax collections to protect North Carolina's AAA credit rating. Every dollar that state legislators appropriate to make up for the pension plan's shortfall in investment returns is a dollar that cannot be returned to taxpayers through tax reductions or spent on other priorities like public safety, our education system, state employee compensation, cost-of-living adjustments for retirees or transportation infrastructure. The goal of these plans is to exceed their required return at the lowest risk possible, but we have recently focused much more on lowering fees and risk rather than delivering necessary returns. Brad's experience managing large investment programs will allow him to solve this problem and deliver the targeted returns without taking on unnecessary risk.
Cited from: https://bradbriner.com