PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island's pension system requires a swift and precise overhaul to correct decades of poor policymaking decisions that have left it among the most expensive and poorly funded in the U.S., the state treasurer said Monday.

In a new report released Monday, Treasurer Gina Raimondo's office recommended a number of steps that could be taken to reform the beleaguered system. Those include decreasing the rate at which benefits accrue, suspending cost-of-living adjustments and raising the retirement age to 67. The retirement age for most state employees and teachers is now 62.

The report calls for accurate and transparent ways of making the accounting assumptions that underlie the pension system to replace what it called overly optimistic accounting relied on in the past.

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