Articles about Retirement Boards that may be useful to Massachusetts retirees.
SEPTEMBER 2011 VOICE: The Plymouth Board of Selectmen has appointed Gerald (Jerry) Coughlin to be their designee on the Plymouth Retirement Board.
Coughlin, treasurer of our Association, had a distinguished career with the Mass. Turnpike Authority where he served as administrator of the Turnpike Retirement Board for many years. After retiring in 1996, he was elected to the Board where he served with fellow elected Board member, the late Frank “Bingo†Hoey.
The last step in the restructure of the Essex Regional Retirement System was taken on January 6th when the five members of the new Essex Regional Retirement Board named Charles Kostro as the new Executive Director of the Regional Retirement System.
Association President Ralph White, without opposition, has been elected to a fifth three-year term on the State Retirement Board.
“When the deadline for filing nomination papers came and there were no other candidates it was a surprise to me,†said White. “In the years that I’ve been on either the PRIM or State Board I’ve always had election opposition. However, I don’t regard this (election) as a so-called “free ride.†There are no free rides in this business. The challenge for improvement still exists.
But Must Tackle Unfunded Liability
Continuing its climb from the abyss of Year 2008 when it lost 29% of its value, the Commonwealth’s pension fund displayed an encouraging investment return of 13.56% for Year 2010.
This followed earnings of 17.46% for Year 2009 and pushed the January 1st value of the fund, known as the Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Fund, to $48.3 billion. While still short of the Fund’s peak value of $53.7 billion at the end of ’07, it was uplifting news for the State and Teachers’ Retirement
JANUARY 2011 VOICE: Six intrepid local retirement boards have broken the ice which had restricted the pension COLA base to $12,000 since 1998 - twelve years ago. This change in the law, which allows a higher base option, was made possible by the passage of Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2010, enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor this past July. The new law also allows boards to extend their debt funding schedules to a maximum date of Year 2040, in order to reduce annual appropriations by their community or county.
SEPT 2007 - Over five hundred retirement board delegates and staff of the Commonwealth’s 106 retirement systems assembled at the Sheraton Hyannis this June for the annual conference of the Massachusetts Association of Contributory Retirement Systems (MACRS).
In an unusual, but not unprecedented move, Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem has appointed herself to the Salem Retirement Board.
2007 JULY - When we first visited the Malden Retirement Board in 1995, it was during the days of three-member boards, before landmark “pension reform” legislation took hold a year later.
2007 MAR - Average Pension On A Gender Basis - In studying and reporting on average pensions at the local level, we have never incorporated pensions by gender, nor separated disability pensions from superannuation pensions. The most recent actuarial data of the Plymouth County Retirement System, as prepared by Buck Consultants, does give such a breakdown and enables us to chart pensions on both a gender and disability basis.
2007 MAR - In addition to representing members before the state and federal governments, Association officials work closely with local leaders to represent retiree interests at the municipal level.
Since 1968 the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association has been the leading voice for Massachusetts public retirees and their families. Join with our 52,000 members as we continue the fight.
