The average funded ratio for these plans ranged from 87.6 percent to 99.8 percent, whereas, according to the study, the average funded ratio of the largest 150 public pension plans in 2012 was 72 percent.

The study indicated that each of the systems employed various strategies for making good on the basic concept of a thorough commitment to pension funding, for example:

• The Delaware Public Employees' Retirement System employs what the study called "a solid and consistent investment strategy that does not change when markets are volatile," which allowed the system to weather the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

• The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund has the political authority to enforce the collection of annual required contributions from those government bodies that participate, and can in fact sue government entities for failing to pay in, or ask the state to withhold funding until payment is rendered.  

• The Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System takes what the study called "incremental actions to reduce the unfunded liability to maintain the plan's long-term fiscal health."  

• North Carolina Retirement Systems consistently employs the use of conservative actuarial assumptions – for example, a 7.25 percent return on investments — and also requires a full actuarial analysis of any proposal that could potentially have an impact on costs or benefits.

Elizabeth K. Kellar, president and CEO of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, said the findings of the case studies illustrated "the importance of basing a government's pension funding policy on an actuarially determined contribution, being disciplined about making required contributions, and clearly reporting how and when pension plans will be funded."

"These case studies illustrate how those principles have been applied and underscore the importance of fiscally responsible solutions that provide retirement security for public workers," said Kellar.

Also read: N.J. debt climbs to $85B on pension obligations