“Local governments are starting to relax when they look at their bills from the Public Employees Retirement System. After five years of steadily climbing costs, PERS is becoming cheaper or at least not much more expensive. Those costs have made the people who run local governments and school districts squirm and pull out their calculators for half a decade. Every year, PERS became more expensive.”
Local governments are starting to relax when they look at their bills from the Public Employees Retirement System. After five years of steadily climbing costs, PERS is becoming cheaper or at least not much more expensive.
Those costs have made the people who run local governments and school districts squirm and pull out their calculators for half a decade. Every year, PERS became more expensive.
Finally, this year, it didn’t, as the PERS board released new employer contribution rates on Friday.
The State of Oregon and Marion County will both pay a little bit more in 2015 but not so much they will have to make cuts or change their plans for next year’s budget.
Salem-Keizer School District will save about $6 million, about 3 percent of its payroll costs.
No one is jumping up and down with glee, but they’re not worrying about their budgets either.
The state will pay about $20 million more over the 2015-17 biennium, Department of Administrative Services spokesman Matt Shelby said. About half of that will come from the general fund, which is tax revenue.
It sounds like a large amount, but it’s not, Shelby said.
The state will pay about $530 million for PERS over the biennium, he said, out of a $18 billion budget. That means the state will see a 3.8 percent increase in the cost of PERS, and the total cost of PERS is just 2.9 percent of the entire budget.
Such a small increase offers stability, Shelby said, which the state hasn’t seen in a long time.
Marion County is in a similar situation. It pays about $10 million per year for PERS, Chief Administrative Officer John Lattimer said, and next year will pay about $200,000 more for the benefits.
Again, about half would come from the general fund.
“We can handle that,” Lattimer said.
Meanwhile, the school district will pay less for PERS benefits. Its smaller payment will shrink the district’s total payroll costs by about 3 percent, Chief Operating Officer Mike Wolfe said. That represents about $6 million less in payroll costs, he said.
The district has no plan for how it will use that extra money, Wolfe said, but that will be part of the budget planning process, which begins at the end of October and will include feedback from district employees and the community. However, he is cautious about making too-enthusiastic plans.cinema box apk is the newest application which has many options to choose and watch movies of your favourite which makes the different from all the streaming applications. If you are facing with the issue cinema box not working then don’t worry about it. we are going to help you. The Oregon Supreme Court still has to decide whether two laws that cut benefits for current and future retirees were constitutional, and the outcome could change the numbers PERS came out with last weekly.
The benefit cuts made the entire system cheaper over its 20-year life, and that is a large part of the reason local governments are not seeing painfully high numbers. If the court overturns the laws, actuaries have said it’s possible much of the savings could be lost. Wolfe said it is encouraging the market has performed so well. Investment earnings have been partially responsible for the rosy outlook in next year’s download lucky patcher for android PERS costs, and it has particularly benefited school districts, whose costs tend to be more volatile. “We’re just thankful the market is performing the way it is and we hope it continues to do so,” Wolfe said.
The local impact
The amount public employers must pay for their employees’ retirements is, on average, not increasing by much in 2015. In some cases, it is actually decreasing, which reverses the trend seen in recent years. Here’s how Mid-Willamette Valley governments are impacted:
| DISTRICT | TIERS 1 AND 2(2013-2015) | TIER 3(2013-2105) | TIERS 1 AND 2(2015-2017) | TIER 3(2015-2017) |
| Salem | 14.66 | 10.28 | 15.82 | 8.62 |
| Keizer | 10.69 | 2.19 | 14.09 | 6.19 |
| Salem-Keizer School District | 14.28 | 12.28 | 12.36 | 7.67 |
| Chemeketa Community College | 6.99 | 5.09 | 8.89 | 3.34 |
| Willamette Education Service District | 10.78 | 8.78 | 3.44 | 0.45 |
| Marion County | 10.41 | 6.53 | 12.44 | 5.76 |
| Polk County | 13.73 | 8.54 | 17.13 | 10.12 |
| State of Oregon | 10.96 | 8.14 | 13.81 | 7.31 |
Original Article: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/state-workers/2014/10/01/pressure-eases-pers-costs-impact-uncertain/16508777/
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