Comstock's magazine 1119 - November 2019 | Page 59

“I feel it is a
distinct possibility
that those of us who
are even drawing
pensions now could
see them cut in the
future if another
financial meltdown
occurs similar or
worse than the
Great Recession
of 2008.”
Pamela Martineau
FORMER SENIOR WRITER
The Sacramento Bee
cent funded. But McClatchy’s 2017 number is down from 93
percent in 2015, and its funding shortfall in that period rose
from about $99 million to $229 million.
Numbers like those aren’t necessarily a cause for concern,
says Eric Petersen of Hicks Pension Services in Fremont. An-
other area actuary, Marc Roberts, president of Chico-based
Associated Pension Consultants, says it’s an encouraging
sign that the company froze the plan.
Still, Roberts says if the company is in financial trou-
ble, those numbers are “definitely going the wrong direc-
tion.” On that score, the news hasn’t been good of late: By
September 2018, McClatchy’s stock had lost nearly all its
value, and the company’s debt was more than 10 times its
market capitalization, according to a report by the Poynter
Institute, a media research organization. On July 19, the
company notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Com-
mission that it had requested a waiver from the IRS of its
$120 million minimum required contribution to the pen-
sion plan under federal law, explaining in its application
that “contributions are expected to exceed the Company’s
ability to pay them in the next 14 months.”
November 2019 | comstocksmag.com
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