ATLANTA --- For the 180,000 state employees and retirees, their golden years depend on a single number that has been steadily shrinking: the funded ratio of their pension plan.

Funded ratio is a yardstick that actuaries devised to measure the strength of retirement plans. They start by totaling up all the benefits current workers and retirees will be due in the future, then subtract it by an assumed investment rate and compare that with the pension plan's average balance over the past seven years to get a ratio.

In 2003, the ratio was 100.5 percent, meaning all the future bills would be covered if the state's investments grew at the assumed 7.5 percent annually.

However, the ratio has slipped every year since, dropping to 89.4 percent at the most recently publicized figures. Also, the seven-year average used in calculating the ratio means the investment losses of the past two years won't be fully noticeable for years.

One immediate consequence is the pension board's decision in June not to grant a semi-annual cost-of-living adjustment, instead granting a one-time bonus instead. The cost-of-living adjustment is likely to be nixed again in January, said Rep. Howard Maxwell, R-Dallas, the head of the House Retirement Committee.

"If the stock market doesn't rebound at some point, we'll reach a critical point in the future for the retirement system, but the board itself is working on it," Mr. Maxwell said.

He and other state officials don't expect the dwindling state budget to allow additions to the fund next year.

However, the Georgia State Retirees Association is lobbying for added funding into the Employees State Retirement System to match the funding level of the Teachers Retirement System, which did permit a cost-of-living adjustment in June. The state reduced its contributions to both plans in 2001, but it cut its annual contribution to the general employees fund more.

"A return now to the previous contribution rate of 14.5 percent should not only enable annual 3 percent COLA increases to all state retirees, but also ensure the long-term future of the fund," the association notes on its Web site.

Georgia's portfolio is 57 percent invested in stocks, below the 68 percent average for all state pensions, according to a national survey published by Wilshire Consulting. The state's funded ratio of 89 percent is better than the average of 77 percent. Its assumed rate of investment return is 7.5 percent, safer than the 8 percent return assumed by the average state, Wilshire reported.