Best practices in county pension management from Pennsylvania offer all county officials insight into pension funding.
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has recently updated their Guide to Pension Plan Best Practices.
As described in the report,
While the County Pension Law may be specific about many matters, there are numerous gray areas. This report examines these issues and discusses options for counties to consider. It is our hope counties will use this report as a way to evaluate the management of their pension plans, and to ensure that all pertinent issues have been addressed.
Pennsylvania’s pension law is structured differently with regard to county pensions, and some sections of the report are focused on information specific to Pennsylvania law. Other sections are useful primers for any county official. The section “Actuarial Valuation and Accounting” provides good background into understanding pension funding requirements. It begins on page 23,
How Do You Tell if Your Plan is Funded Correctly?
There are two criteria the Pension Board needs to evaluate in order to determine if the county’s plan is being funded correctly:
- Is the plan being actuarially valued on an annual basis?
- Is the county funding the plan actually contributing moneys as called for by the actuarial valuation?
For more information, read the full report, PA County Guide to Pension Plan Best Practices.