Resolution No. 2013-007r
RESOLUTION NO. 2013-07
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
VERNON APPROVING THE FUNDING FOR THE PUBLIC AGENCY
RETIREMENT SYSTEM (PARS) SUPPLEMENTARY RETIREMENT
PLAN
WHEREAS, it was determined to be in the best interest of the
City .of Vernon (the "City") and its employees to provide a retirement
incentive offer to eligible employees who wish to voluntarily retire
from City service; and
WHEREAS, on November 6, 2012, the City Council of the City of
Vernon adopted Resolution No. 2012-202 adopting the Public Agency
Retirement System (PARS) Trust, including the PARS Supplementary
Retirement Plan ("SRP"), as part of the City's retirement program,
appointing the City Administrator to serve as the City's Plan
Administrator for the PARS Supplementary Retirement Plan, and
authorizing the Plan Administrator to execute any legal and
administrative documents on behalf of the City; and
WHEREAS,. the Plan Administrator has executed the documents
necessary to implement the SRP; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Vernon desires to
approve the funding for the SRP and approve and ratify the actions of
the Plan Administrator in executing the documents necessary to
implement the SRP.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF VERNON AS`FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1: The City Council of the City of Vernon hereby
finds and,determines.that the above recitals are true and correct.
SECTION 2: In addition to any authority previously granted
to the City's Plan Administrator to execute the documents necessary to
implement the SRP on behalf of the City, the City's Plan Administrator
is hereby authorized to take whatever additional actions are necessary
to maintain the City's participation in'the SRP and to maintain
compliance with any and all relevant statutes or regulations.
In addition, if the City's Plan Administrator finds that the PARS
Supplementary Retirement Plan bene.fit must be limited under Section 415
of Internal Revenue Code, then the Plan Administrator will implement
replacement benefit programs to the extent allowable by applicable law,
and to the extent they have no additional cost 'to the City. The City's
Plan Administrator is also authorized to rescind or cancel the PARS
Trust on behalf of the City.
SECTION 3: The City Council has determined that the SRP
will result in overall cost savings to the City and therefore approves
funding the SRP over a five (5) year period through the purchase of
annuities at an annual cost of $1,114,807.00 per year.
SECTION 4: The Interim City Clerk of the City of Vernon
shall certify to the passage, approval and adoption of this resolution,
and the Interim City Clerk of the City of Vernon shall cause this
resolution and the Interim City Clerk's certification to be entered in
the File of Resolutions of the Council of this City.
APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 81h day of January, 2013.
Name William JDavis
Title: Mayor / ahI yor-"P -
ATT T:
Da Reed, Interik City Clerk
W.I
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
ss
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES )
I, Dana Reed, Interim City Clerk of the City of Vernon, do hereby
certify that the foregoing Resolution, being Resolution No. 2013-07,
was duly passed, approved and adopted by the City Council of the City
of Vernon at a special meeting of the City Council duly held on
Tuesday, January 8, 2013, and thereafter was duly signed by the Mayor
or Mayor Pro-Tem of the City of Vernon.
Executed this Po day of January, 2013, at Vernon, California.
4DaReed, Interim City Clerk
(SEAL)
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
DATE: January 10, 2013
TO: Rory Burnett, City Treasurer
William Fox, Finance Director
Teresa McAllister, Director of Human Resources
Mark C. Whitworth, City Administrator
FROM: Deborah Juarez, Records Management Assistant
RE: Resolution No. 2013-07 — A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Vernon
Approving the Funding for the Public Agency Retirement System (PARS) Supplementary
Retirement Plan
Transmitted herewith is a copy of Resolution No. 2013-07 referenced above, which was approved by
City Council on January 8, 2013.
Thank you.
Attachment
c: Resolution No. 2013-07
C Copa le
RECEIVED
JAN 0 3 2013
CITY CLERKS OFFICE
STAFF REPORT
ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT
DATE: January 8, 2013
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Mark C. Whitworth, City Administrator
RE: ADOPT A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING FUNDING FOR THE PUBLIC
AGENCY RETIREMENT SYSTEM (PARS) SUPPLEMENTARY
RETIREMENT PLAN (SRP)
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council find that approval to fund the PARS Supplementary
Retirement Plan in this staff report is exemptunder the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) in accordance with Section 15061(b)(3), the general rule that CEQA only applies to
projects that may have an effect on the environment.
It is recommended that the City Council Adopt a Resolution approving the funding for the Public
Agency Retirement System (PARS) Supplementary Retirement Plan (SRP) and documents
necessary to fund the SRP. The first year expected annual savings of this action is $1.9 million.
Over a five year period the projected savings are expected to be $8.2 million.
Background
On November 6, 2012, staff reported that current economic conditions continue, to have a
negative impact on the City's general operating revenues. These revenues pay for basic
municipal services such as public safety, fire, community services, electric and water. Updated
projections for the upcoming fiscal year (2013/2014) indicate a structural budget shortfall
(spending in excess of revenues) in excess of $10 million, if no corrective action is taken.
Consequently, as an initial step to solving this shortfall, the Council directed the City
Administrator to pursue a supplemental retirement program (SRP) that will act as an incentive
to encourage qualified employees to voluntarily retire from the City. The goal of the program
would be to accelerate the normal rate of attrition, thus allowing the City to rapidly reduce its
workforce and create budget savings that help address the City's budget shortfall. The SRP
benefit would be offered through the Public Agency Retirement System (PARS), a private
company that specializes in supplementary retirement plans for public agencies, and has been
doing so since 1983.
On November 6, 2012, City Council approved Resolution #2012-202 authorizing a
Supplementary Retirement Plan (SRP) with the condition that the program meet the fiscal and
operational goals of the City. By Resolution, the City Council delegated to the City
Administrator the authority to enter into all agreements necessary to implement the SRP. A
copy of each type of agreement is attached to this report for the permanent record of the City.
In the weeks following the Council's authorization, information and enrollment packets were
sent to 62 employees who met the following eligibility requirements:
• Regular full-time employees
• 50 years of age or older
• Eligible to retire from CalPERS with at least five years of service
• Retire from CalPERS system within stated timelines
• Not in an excluded classification*
*Exclusions: City Councilmembers, City Administrator, City Attorney and all Department_ Heads
are excluded from participating in the program.
Human Resources worked with PARS and held orientation meetings and workshops to further
explain the program to eligible employees. Eligible employees interested in participating in the
program were asked to notify PARS by December 19, 2012. Thirty-five (35) employees
responded.
Of the 35 retirees, one application has initially been accepted for participation in the program and
placed in a "pending category". The ultimate status will depend on his ability to participate in
the CalPERS program. If an affirmative decision has been made regarding his ability to "retire
under Ca1PERS, PARS can then pay PARS benefits to the applicant.
After the December 19, 2012 deadline for employees to submit their Notice of Retirement, City
Administration and Human Resources staff worked with affected departments to review the
potential of offering the SRP so that approvals could be finalized.
Results of Post Analysis Report
PARS performed a Fiscal Analysis to determine if the PARS SRP met the fiscal objectives of
obtaining net savings of personnel costs, after deducting all costs associated with the program.
Of the 62 eligible employees, a total of 35 employees requested participation in the SRP. The
majority of these employees are funded through the General Fund, however a portion of some of
the salaries are funded through Enterprise funds. Should the City elect to move forward with the
SRP, the amount of personnel cost savings (net all of associated costs, including funding the
benefit and administrations costs) to the City of Vernon is as follows:
Estimated Fiscal Years
Savings
Projected Savings in Year 1
$1,912,009
Projected Savings over 3 years
$5,162,514
Projected Savings over 5 years
t $8,170,150;
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The savings were calculated using assumptions which include that only 9.5 FTE's out of the 35
FTE's retiring will be refilled. 4 of the 9.5 FTE's being refilled are anticipated. to be filled
through a competitive internal promotion. The successful internal candidate's previous position
would be left vacant resulting in an additional 3.5 FTE vacancy. In addition, assumptions were
made as to cost increases to employee benefits and COLA's and future attrition.
City staff is in the process of evaluating various alternatives for providing the services of the
other 25.5 FTE's retiring and the additional 3.5 FTE's as a result of not filling internal
promotions for replacements. Alternatives may be through reorganization of divisions;
reclassification of employees, or contracting out services, etc.Since the Safety employees will
not be retiring until June 30, 2013, the City has time to evaluate its options and put an effective
plan in place. Depending on the decisions made on providing these services, some of the savings
may be reduced by additional costs to provide services. The ultimate goal of this restructuring is
to maintain as much savings from the SRP as possible.
General Fund Full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) will be reduced as follows:
Direct Misc Positions = 12.50 FTE
Secondary Promotion Misc Positions = 1.00 FTE
Direct Fire Safety Positions 7.00 FTE
Direct Police Safety Positions = 3.00 FTE
Secondary Promotion Police Safety Positions = 2.00 FTE
Total General Fund positions eliminated 25.50 FTE
Enterprise Fund Full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) will be reduced as follows:
Direct Misc Positions = 3.00 FTE
Secondary Promotion Misc Positions .50 FTE
Total Enterprise Fund positions eliminated = 3.50 FTE
The, overall program met the Council's conditions and will afford the organization. with an
opportunity to eliminate positions and restructure operations.
Funding Plan
In order to join the SRP Program, the City needed to establish a plan within the PARS Trust.. As
mentioned above, PARS estimates approximately $1,912,009 in savings in the first year after
implementation of the plan, with a cumulative savings of approximately $8,170,150 over 5 years.
These savings are net of all costs of retiree benefits and administration costs. The cost to fund
the plan equals 125% of salary for the retiree.
The City can choose to fund the plan all at once or over time, to a maximum time of 5 years.
The City may choose to buy annuities to fund the Plan, self -fund, or use some combination .of
both. The City will use salary savings to fund the plan.
Staff s recommendation is to fund with an annuity, since the insurance company assumes
responsibility for all remaining benefit obligations for the program and PARS for the
administration of the program. In other words by purchasing the annuity the City will lock in the
costs and eliminate mortality risk and investment risk. We can also more easily budget for this
cost of the program in conjunction with the annual budget process. Per PARS Management,
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approximately 95% of the cities that implement the SRP program choose this option because of
the benefits of locking in the rates.
At this time, staff is assuming a"five-year funding schedule with year one being self -funded
because annuity rates are exceptionally low. PARS administration fees are 5.5% of the money
invested in the Trust for the benefit of the Plan and collected by PARS only at the time the
money is placed in the Trust. Funding may be re-evaluated if other options prove cost effective
in the future. Estimated savings are net of the funding obligation.
For the 35 retirees' benefits and administration fees the cost will be a total of $5,574,035, which
on average equates to -one year's salary per retiree. Annual funding for the program over the 5
years will cost approximately $1,114,807 per year.
Fiscal Impact
The cost of the program will be funded with the savings obtained through this program. The first
year's payment for Misc employees scheduled to retire on January 31, 2013 will be due February
10, 2013 and on July 10, 2013 for Safety employees scheduled to retire on June 28, 2012. The
first payment will require an appropriation to the FY 2012-2013 budget from the General Fund.
The subsequent four year's payment will be $1,114,807 each year and will be included in the
annual budget preparation.
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