Nevada City, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors approved a Pension Management Plan Tuesday intended to strengthen the County’s long-term financial stability, improve transparency and make steady progress toward reducing pension liabilities. These new options would build on steps the Board of Supervisors has taken to reduce the County’s pension liability since 2012.
The plan, which was developed over the last year, establishes a framework for responsibly managing the County’s pension obligations through a combination of additional disciplined annual payments, sound long-term financial planning and public reporting. County officials said the strategy is intended to protect essential public services while continuing to meet employee retirement commitments.
Chief Fiscal Officer Erin Mettler, who presented the plan, said, “We are striking that balance of funding our community needs and building our reserves as well as the pension obligations that we have committed to. This is the long game. By making additional movement towards paying our obligation, we will see the needle move more quickly.”
Among the ways the County will move in that direction is:
- Continue pre-paying the annual contribution to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). The County has been prepaying its contributions since 2019, saving more than a half-million dollars annually in interest costs.
- Pay more than is required through additional discretionary payments and by utilizing year end savings.
In addition, the County will post pension information on its website beginning in June. Staff will also present reports on the pension twice a year, with the next report scheduled in January.