The Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund won’t exist as of January 1, 2015. That’s because the plan is merging with the Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association (MPERA).
Reported by Pensions & Investments:
Minnesota PERA already administers the $869 million Minneapolis plan, and its assets are managed by the $80 billion Minnesota State Board of Investment, St. Paul, said Mary Most Vanek, PERA executive director.
The Minneapolis plan has been closed to new employees since 1978; since then, new employees hired by the city of Minneapolis and six other municipal governments have been participants in PERA.
The Minneapolis plan will no longer exist as of Jan. 1, Ms. Most Vanek said.
Under a pension bailout approved by the Minnesota Legislature in 2010, contributions from the city and the state were required to bring the Minneapolis pension fund to 80% funding before it could be merged into the state plan. It reached that mark in late 2014.
The pension plan was 56% funded in 2009.
The Minneapolis pension fund has received annual state contributions of $24 million since 2010, Ms. Vanek said. The annual contribution of the city of Minneapolis, as well as the six other municipal governments with retirees in MERF, totaled about $27 million.
A new contribution payment will be established after Jan. 1, Ms. Vanek said. What part of the new contribution will be paid by the state and municipalities will be negotiated and then must be enacted through state legislation, she said.
The Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund is approximately $869 million in size; MPERA, on the other hand, is a $22 billion fund.
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