The giant investment fund that feeds the state's public employee retirement system contributed far less than expected to the pension kitty last year, fueling a long-standing debate over how much the system can — or should — rely on investments to cover retirement costs in the long haul.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, expects a 7.5 percent annualized rate of return on its more than $200 billion in investments. The expectation was revised downward last year from7.75 percent, which was CalPERS' expectation for more than a decade.

But in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, the system got just a 0.14-percent net return on its billions in investments, according to CalPERS'Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The fund ended the fiscal year with $237 billion, down from $241 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Read more at the OC Register