Police, Fire pension fund ratio moves to 54%

Springfield’s Police and Fire Pension Fund's net assets reached $177 million as of Feb. 28, bringing the plan's funded radio to approximately 54 percent.

The figure represents a 97 percent increase compared to the pension fund's low point of $90 million in February 2009, when its funded ratio was 28.5 percent, according to a city news release.

The Police and Fire Pension Fund Board of Trustees Chairman Ken Homan met with Springfield City Council April 19 to outline the current state of the fund, noting that the plan, which saw growth in 2010 for the first time in a decade, is on the mend.

During the city's fiscal year 2011, revenue increases for the pension fund came from four sources:

• net investment income, $28.9 million;
• 3/4-cent pension-fund sales tax, $13.3 million;
• employer contribution, $4.8 million; and
• employee contribution, $1.8 million.

“It is important to let the public know what an extraordinary thing they have done to approve a tax increase, addressing the problem head-on with what should prove to be a true long-term solution,” Homan said in the release, referring to the 3/4-cent tax passed by voters in November 2009. “The responsibility of managing those dollars to reach the goal of the fund being self-sustaining is an important job.

"The board takes that responsibility very seriously and feels fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of something that will help shape the future of the city.”

The fund's board of trustees is currently searching for an investment consulting firm as well as a part-time director, whose job would be to manage daily administrative duties under the direction of the board of trustees.[[In-content Ad]]