Detroit will save $61 million next year under an agreement it reached with the city’s two retirement systems to spread out a five-year pension fund payment over seven years.
Last week the General Retirement System board voted to allow the city to save $13 million by extending to seven years from five years the period that the pension system has to pay for its losses.
The police and fire system later also approved the measure, leading to $48 million in savings.
The move is one of several measures that Mayor Dave Bing has used to balance his proposed fiscal 2012 budget. Other actions include reducing the city’s medical and pension contributions.
The two systems lost nearly $2 billion in assets between 2008 and 2009, the mayor said in a press conference announcing the agreements.
