In a report on the city’s financial condition, the auditor says Seattle only has 70 percent of the money it needs to meet its pension obligations.

Seattle’s auditor says the city's employee pension plan is underfunded by $1.2 billion .

Eric Scorsone, a professor of local government finance at Michigan State University, said 80 percent is considered healthy and 60 percent is considered risky — so Seattle's position in the middle is “not terrible."

"But certainly we don’t want to put it off any longer at this point. Some actions are going to need to be taken, potentially, to help address the problem,” Scorsone said.

The city’s employee retirement system failed to answer information requests from KUOW about the history of the shortfall and its causes.

Scorsone said many cities fail to use good times to fund their employees’ pensions. And when stretched during hard times, such as the recession a decade ago, cities struggle to find funds.

It’s been estimated that state and local governments have $4 trillion - $5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities.