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Published 3/3/2013
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The Real World: CCCERA
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| By Nick Marnell |
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The Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association board recently voted to lower the current 7.75 percent assumed investment return rate on its pension assets to 7.25 percent, effective July 1, 2014. CCCERA manages the Moraga-Orinda Fire District defined benefit pension plan. The effect of the lower rate is that MOFD will be forced to contribute more money to the plan, which should help assuage the district’s unfunded pension liability.
 “We need to start living in the real world,” said trustee Debora Allen. “We should start looking at real numbers, and be real to ourselves.” She lobbied the board to lower the assumed rate even further, to 7 percent, but there was no consensus to drop it to that level.
CCCERA became the second California public entity, after Orange County, to apply the 7.25 percent rate as its investment return assumption.
“These changes will impact the amount of money that both the employee and the employer will have to contribute toward retirement. The majority of the increase will be felt by the employer,” said Vince Wells, president of Contra Costa Professional Firefighters Local 1230.
But MOFD Fire Chief Randall Bradley does not think that the lower rate will pose any problems in the operation of the fire district. Nor does he believe that the change will have a negative impact on the potential consolidation of MOFD fire station 43 with Contra Costa County Fire District station 16.
As to how the new rate will affect the district’s long-range financial plan, Bradley said that he will only make changes at the direction of the MOFD board. “That will not formally occur until our next meeting when we discuss the plan,” he said.
The next meeting of the MOFD board of directors is on Monday, March 11. |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA