Agenda Item   

AGENDA STAFF REPORT

 

                                                                                                                        ASR Control  10-000718

 

MEETING DATE:

05/18/10

legal entity taking action:

Board of Supervisors

board of supervisors district(s):

All Districts

SUBMITTING Agency/Department:

County Executive Office   (Approved)

Department contact person(s):

Robert J. Franz (714) 834-4304 

 

 

Mitch Tevlin (714) 834-6748

 

 

Subject:  Report On OCERS - Pensionable Pay Items

 

      ceo Concur

County Counsel Review

Clerk of the Board

Concur

N/A

Discussion

 

 

3 Votes Board Majority

 

 

 

    Budgeted: No

Current Year Cost: N/A

Annual Cost: N/A

 

 

 

    Staffing Impact: No

# of Positions:

Sole Source: N/A

    Current Fiscal Year Revenue: N/A

    Funding Source: N/A

 

    Prior Board Action: N/A

 

RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

 

Receive and file OCERS "County Pension Status - Pensionable Pay Items" presentation by OCERS, CEO Steve Delaney.

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

The Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) has reported that since 2001, due to a programming error built into their present "Pension Gold" financial information system, the data reported to OCERS actuary did not include the entire member salary paid to active members.

 

Specifically, while properly reporting active members base salary amounts to the actuary for future pension benefit projections, certain premium pay components to that salary were inadvertently excluded. 

 

 

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

 

Each year the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) uses the services of a professional actuary to estimate the ongoing cost of its pension plan by valuing both plan assets and liabilities.  Such estimates allow OCERS to continually monitor the status of the plan and make corrections and modifications where necessary to ensure actual experience and future assumptions remain closely related.

 

While undertaking plan data diagnostics in preparation for the December 31, 2009 experience valuation, OCERS encountered a data anomaly related to pensionable salary.  Pensionable salaries for employees with other premium pay elements were being under reported.  A partial list of the omitted salary components is presented below:

 

Bilingual Premium Pay

Motorcycle Pay

Emergency Dispatch Pay

Field Training Officer Pay

Shift Differential Pay

Confined Space Pay

Uniform Allowance

 

 

 

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

 

Using Segal's December 31, 2008 valuation for comparison purposes, the Actuarial Accrued Liability would have increased by $228 million for all of OCERS plan sponsors if all of the pensionable pay items had been included in the valuation.  At the time this staff report was written, specific County of Orange financial impacts had not yet been identified.  County staff estimate the annual cost increase to range between $6 million and $7 million begining  July 1, 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

STAFFING IMPACT:

 

N/A

 

 

 

EXHIBIT(S):

 

1. OCERS Letter
2. Segals Letter