State and local government retirement systems surged by 35 percent over their last quarterly low point in 2009 to total $2.93 trillion as of the end of 2010. The National Association of State Retirement Administrators and the National Council on Teacher Retirement reported the findings in a recent brief.

The organizations say recent plan redesign efforts underway in virtually every state, as well as median returns of 13.1 percent for 2010, help explain the dramatic improvement.

“Discussions of pension funding should use these more recent figures instead of depressed asset values that are no longer accurate,” said Keith Brainard, research director for NASRA and the new issue brief’s author. “Out-of-date numbers create misleading impressions about the true financial condition of public pension plans and their state and local government sponsors.”