Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association

• Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association Fails Its Own Solvency Test

The Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association experienced investment losses of 30 percent last year, so substantial that according to the metrics used by the plan's actuaries, PERA fails a basic solvency test. On page 98 of PERA's most recent annual report, covering 2007, Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting of Kennesaw, Ga., described the solvency test:

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• January 23, 2009

• Commentary: Predictions of Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association's Peril Spot On

During the late 1990s, the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association was one of the healthiest pension funds in America. For many years, PERA had combined successful investment strategies with a comparatively restrained benefit structure, achieving a funded ratio of more than 100 percent. That meant the fund had more than enough assets to cover potential benefit claims by all of its members -- and this very success put in motion the chain of events that has, 10 years later, brought PERA to the edge of insolvency.

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• July 21, 2009

• Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 90,298 Metro Services Inc., Anthony P. Uzzo, for the Anthony P. Uzzo Defined Benefit Keogh Plan, and as Trustee of the A. Uzzo & Co. Pension Trust of Purchase, New York, Anthony Siniscalchi, Blaise Fredella, on Behalf of Themselves and all Others Similarly Situated, Gary Weber, Daniel Hurley, Michael Sabbia, Aka the Vogel Plaintiffs, Pbhg Funds, Inc, Robert Milligan, Plaintiffs. Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Stephen F. Wiggins, William M. Sullivan, Jeffrey H. Boyd, Andrew B. Cassidy, Defendants, Oxford Health Plans, Inc., Defendant-Appellee., 158 F.3d 162 (2nd Cir. 1998)

Jay W. Eisenhofer, Grant & Eisenhofer, P.A., Wilmington, DE (Stuart M. Grant), for Plaintiff-Appellant-Movant Public Employees' Retirement Association...

• Federal Circuits

• Colorado Lawmakers Revise State's Public Employees Retirement Association Pension Fund

During the last legislative session, lawmakers "fixed" the state's Public Employees Retirement Association pension fund, principally by diverting 0.5 percent of employee raises to PERA for the next six years and introducing a "rule of 85" for retirement eligibility. But an analysis of PERA's finances indicates that its unfunded liability, far from decreasing in future years, could easily increase. And, questions exist concerning mortality assumptions by PERA's actuaries and about PERA's projected rates of return on its investment portfolio that raise red flags about the long-term solvency of the pension plan.

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• September 01, 2006

• Colorado's Public Employees' Retirement Association Unhappy About Story in Business Journal

Guess who wasn't happy about the story we did a few weeks ago about the Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado? The Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado. I got an e-mail from the organization's executive director, Meredith Williams, (actually I didn't get an e-mail from Mr. Williams, I got an e-mail from PERA's director of communications on behalf of Mr. Williams) claiming that the story "presented a one- sided and unfairly negative view of the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association.

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• September 15, 2006

• Execs Don't See an Easy Fix for State Pension Fund

Colorado's public employee pension plan is in trouble, and about 500 folks who are or will be its beneficiaries turned out in the Springs Wednesday evening to take stock of the damage. Like everyone with money in the stock market, the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association had a bad year in 2008, losing 26 percent of its assets. Its investments are now in the black, but PERA's $10.5 billion loss means the fund is on course to run out of money - the money to pay the pensions of a beneficiary pool that's more than 435,000 strong - in roughly 20 years.

• Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.
• September 09, 2009

• By Any Measure, Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association Is a Generous Retirement Plan

Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association recipients do not pay into Social Security. They pay 8 percent of their pretax earnings to PERA, which is matched by a 12 percent contribution from the employers that participate in the plan, including the City of Colorado Springs and every public school district in the Pikes Peak region.

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• January 23, 2009

• Colorado Public Employees Retirement Assn. Worse Off Than Predicted

The CEO of the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association now admits that his organization cannot continue to meet its obligations without "sweeping legislative changes. Testifying on Monday before the Legislative Audit Committee, Meredith Williams painted a bleak picture for the lawmakers.

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• July 21, 2009

• In State Treasurer's Suit

The Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association today filed its own claim in the lawsuit brought by Colorado State Treasurer Walker Stapleton. PERA's claim asks the Denver District Court to provide guidance on the circumstances under which the group can lawfully disclose confidential member information to its trustees.

• Colorado Springs Business Journal
• October 21, 2011

• Retirement Plan Key in Talks of Hospital's Fate

The retirement plan of thousands of Memorial Health System employees and retirees could loom large in discussions about whether the city-owned enterprise should be sold. City Attorney Patricia Kelly told the Citizens Commission on Ownership and Governance of Memorial Health System on Tuesday that selling Memorial to a for-profit entity would end the hospital system's affiliation with the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association, affecting Memorial's estimated 4,100 current employees.

• Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.
• May 11, 2010