Can you spare me a $1, friend?

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A new report shows the funding shortfalls of the state's 53 municipal pension plans for police officers and firefighters now total nearly $1 billion.

The estimate grew by 28 percent from 2009 to 2010, the latest year for which figures are available, and is nearly double what it was a decade earlier.

All told, cities as large as Charleston and as small as Welch should find $976 million in coming years if they want to keep promises made to their workers, according to the study by a Chicago-based firm.

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