... —almost 1.5 times existingplan assets. Thus, the risk of enter-ing the market at the wrong time was magnified by the size of the bond issue. In addition, the deci-sion to make the bonds non-callable ... structural deficit. Instead, the city resorted to one-shot financial transactions, such as the sale of the water and seweroperations to an off-balance sheet entity and the sale of tax liens.Attempts ... higher levels of state contributionsfor the city’s plan.6Two years later, with the prospect of mandatory and sharplystepped up employer contributions to the pension plan in the offing, Pittsburgh’s...