Today's all-purpose pension post

Not for Nothing, but the "pench" is a Rhode Island classic -- right up there with stuffies and low-number license plates.

And pensions also play a big role in why the Ocean State is facing such serious fiscal problems.

Back when Buddy Cianci was flying high in the late '90s, the ProJo's Chris Chivers -- now starring for the New York Times -- wrote about how a few things, including underperforming schools and a big unfunded pension liability, offered a lot less positive reflection on the Renaissance City.

About 10 years on, some things have changed for the better, but the schools and the unfuded pension liability remain big ssues. Greg Smith, in describing city auditor James Lombardi's inquiry into the pension of former director of administration John Simmons, writes today:

The city is saddled with a mammoth unfunded liability of $674.6 million in the pension fund, which means that its projected assets fall short of meeting its projected obligations by that amount.

Cicilline has proposed floating a pension obligation bond, which would plug the financing gap in the pension fund and leave it sound on an actuarial basis. In effect, the city would exchange one debt for another kind of debt.

Meanwhile, as Smith reports, city officials are still mulling the pension of former police chief Barney Prignano.

And Rhode Island's pension fund remains one of the most underfunded in the US.