November 2015 Update

In November 2015, I attended the Oklahoma State Pension Commission meeting and the monthly pension board meeting.

The Pension Commission approved a resolution stating that they opposed reduction of any dedicated contribution levels provided to any state retirement plan, as well as employer and employee contribution rates, until the affected plan is at 90% funded ratio, on an actuarial valuation basis.

Our system is well above this level and is approaching the 100% funded ratio in Fiscal Year 2016. Currently, 8% is withheld from your pay as your contribution, the city’s contribution is 13% and we receive a percentage of the insurance premium fund before it goes to the state. Last year the insurance premium fund we received was about $35 million. If the legislators adopt this resolution the system may no longer get that money and it would go to the state and our funding level would be reduced. This language, as proposed could also allow for a reduction of the employer contribution rates.

The OPPRS’s monthly financial report was good. The report noted as of 10-31-15 our system was at $2.216 Billion. Our rate of return, net of fees, for year to date was 2.24%, the one year was 2.84%, and the three year was 8.08 %. As mentioned above we are on target to be 100% funded during the next year, if there are no changes made to our system. We are still involved in several litigations where investors provided fraudulent information and performance was reduced due to the fraudulent information in an attempt to retrieve a portion of the investment.

I am frequently asked how many officers are in our system. Currently there are 4570 active officers of the total 8833 members. The current active officer’s average years of service is 12.1 years and the average age of the officers is 39.9 years.

The normal monthly financials, agenda, minutes, etc are available on the pension board web site for review at your leisure.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Click here for first attachment

Click here for second attachment

Jeff Pierce
State Trustee, 
District 6
Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System