Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — With stock market gains replacing steep losses in the accounting ledger, Mississippi's main public employee pension fund posted stronger results last year.

Actuaries reported Tuesday to the board of the Public Employees Retirement System that the funding percentage — the share of future obligations covered by current assets — rose to 61 percent from 57.7 percent.

All numbers are as of June 30.

The system now projects that at current contribution levels, it will take 29.2 years to pay off its $14.4 billion unfunded liability. That's down from a 32.2-year projected repayment period in June 2013.

The improvement stems from recent stock market gains as well as the end of an accounting period covering losses from the 2008-2009 stock market meltdown. Actuaries smooth out results over five years.