RALEIGH – Never let it be said that I don’t report good news about North Carolina when it crosses my desk.

I just wish it crossed my desk more often.

Across the nation, state and local governments have run up hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities for benefits they have promised to their retirees without setting aside the money for pay for them. These benefits include pensions, retiree health care, and other programs.

The Pew Center on the States pegs the total unfunded liability at around $1 trillion – the gap between $3.35 trillion in promised retirement benefits and $2.35 trillion in accrued funding. Other estimates put the unfunded liability even higher.

Some states have been far more reckless than others. Fortunately, North Carolina is not among the most reckless states. Unfortunately, we’ve still got a big problem.

When it comes to management of the pension system for teachers and state employees, North Carolina has traditionally maintained a conservative philosophy both to employer contributions and investment. As a result, in the fiscal year for which the Pew Center study was completed, 2008, North Carolina had a fully funded pension system according to reasonable actuarial standards.

Thank goodness we don’t have the kind of problem plaguing the likes of Illinois (only 54 percent funded), Massachusetts (63 percent), or neighboring South Carolina (70 percent).

However, since 2008 the situation facing North Carolina and other states has worsened because of the recession. The value of pension-fund assets has declined, while recessionary deficits have led state legislators to forego the require annual pension contribution.

North Carolina’s pension fund is no longer fully funded. The 2011 General Assembly will have to put hundreds of millions of tax dollars into the pension system if it wants to restore it to the status quo ante recessionarum.

The retiree health benefit is far more problematic. Unlike its management of the pension fund, North Carolina has made virtually no effort to fund its promise to state employees that they would receive supplemental health benefits from the state after retirement.

As a result, North Carolina’s unfunded liability for retiree health care and other non-pension benefits was around $30 billion in 2008. Since then, the figure has likely grown substantially.

According to the Pew analysis, North Carolina’s funding level for these benefits comes to only 2 percent (which actually seems like a generous estimate). Still, other states are in worse shape. Florida and Tennessee, for example, show a 0 percent funding level.

So, to put North Carolina’s fiscal picture in perspective, here are some basic facts to keep in mind:

• North Carolina’s tax burden is a bit higher than the national average.

• North Carolina’s level of government debt has risen dramatically in recent years, but remains below the national average.

• North Carolina’s unfunded liabilities for retirement benefits are also below the national average, but still worrisome.

I’m a big believer in benchmarking. But when most of your peers perform poorly, it’s unwise to take comfort in your relative performance. Bad is bad, whether you are alone or in the midst of a crowd.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.