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When was the last time you thought about your SDCERS beneficiary designations? Over a year ago? Five years? The day you enrolled in SDCERS? Maybe never? Beneficiary designations may seem like a chore you can put off or do once and forget about, but the truth is you should review your beneficiary designations at least once a year to make sure they reflect your current circumstances. For example, beneficiary designations probably aren’t the first thing on your mind when you get married or divorced, have a child, or lose a loved one, but these are all defining life events that may affect who you want to receive your pension benefits when you die.
Active Members (meaning those who are actively employed by the City, Port,* or Airport and contributing to SDCERS, but are not in DROP) are eligible to leave one of three types of death benefits if they die before retiring or entering DROP, and the eligibility requirements are very specific for two of the three types. Importantly, if you die without having designated your surviving spouse as your sole pre-retirement death benefit beneficiary, then your surviving spouse will not be eligible to receive the lifetime Death While Eligible or Industrial Death Benefit, even if all other eligibility requirements are satisfied. This article contains a summary of the death benefits provided to Active Members, but please review the Death Benefits Fact Sheet for more in-depth information.
*General Port employees hired or rehired on or after January 1, 2009 (and are not in the General 2024 Plan) must complete five consecutive years of Port employment after each hire or rehire date before they become Members of SDCERS and are eligible to leave a death benefit.
Read the full article for more information!
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SDCERS’ 2023 Summer SCOOP Newsletter has arrived and should hit mailboxes within the next few weeks! For members who have not yet retired or entered DROP (including inactive and deferred vested members), a copy of the newsletter will be included in the envelope with your FY 2023 Annual Member Statement. You can also view an electronic version of current and past issues on our website, here. The purpose of our newsletter is to keep you informed about what is currently happening here at SDCERS, along with providing educational content. If you’d like to receive an electronic copy of future SCOOP issues in advance of the mailed copy, you can sign up here.
Along with the Summer Newsletter, SDCERS members who have earned SDCERS service credit, but who have not yet retired or entered DROP, should be receiving their Annual Member Statement in the mail within the next few weeks. This statement contains detailed account information for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, which means the information is current as of July 1, 2023. The purpose of the Annual Member Statement is (1) to ensure that your beneficiary designations are correct, and (2) to keep you up-to-date regarding the details of your SDCERS retirement account. You can also download electronic copies of current and past Annual Member Statements via your secure Member Portal account.
A video detailing the contents of your statement is available here.
Please review the information on your statement carefully. If you have questions about the Personal Information listed, please contact your Payroll Specialist or update your information in SAP (or contact your Human Resources office if you are a Port or Airport member).
Contact SDCERS if you have questions or need to update the Member and Contribution Information or Beneficiary Information, or if you believe there is an error in your statement.
If you have questions about your Annual Member Statement, please contact your Payroll Specialist or call the SDCERS Call Center at 619-525-3600, open Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (PST). And remember, your most up-to-date account information is always available on the SDCERS Member Portal.
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Most City General Members are anticipating significant salary increases, staggered over the next couple of years. You can read about the negotiated increases in the MEA’s article, here. In light of this, we thought it would be helpful to provide a quick review of how “final compensation” is calculated and used in your pension benefit formula.
If you are a City General Member initially hired before July 1, 2009, then your final compensation is your highest one-year pensionable salary, approximately equal to your highest 26 consecutive pay periods prior to your retirement (or DROP entry) date.
If you are a City General Member initially hired on or after July 1, 2009, then your final compensation will be calculated as your highest pensionable salary averaged over three years.
The raises negotiated between the City and relevant labor unions will amount to a compounded total of a 22.8% increase as of July 1, 2025. For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume these negotiated increases are the only changes to your salary between now and your retirement (or DROP entry) date. In order for the full 22.8% increase to be used as your final compensation:City General Members hired before July 1, 2009 must retire or enter DROP on or after July 2, 2026.City General Members hired on or after July 1, 2009 must retire on or after July 2, 2028.To generate a benefit estimate through your Member Portal account that takes into account your future increased salary as discussed in this article, you must first choose a retirement date on or after the date stated above (whichever applies to you based on your hire date), and then override your final compensation on the right side of the calculator accordingly. The easiest way to do that prior to the first increase on July 1, 2023 is to simply increase the “Final Average Salary” that automatically populates on the left side of the calculator by 22.8% and then input that higher number on the right side.
Please see our Benefit Estimate Calculator Fact Sheet for guidance regarding generating estimates and contact our Call Center if you need additional help. Our Call Center can be reached at (619) 525-3600 on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
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This year's Annual Membership Meeting took place in-person at the Balboa Park Club Ballroom on October 26th. If you missed it, you can download a copy of the presentation here.
The theme of the meeting was "A fiduciary builds the strongest trust from bricks of integrity, transparency, and customer service, which is reinforced by accountability and professionalism," which incorporates all of SDCERS’ core values.
Here is a short synopsis of this year's presentations:Marcelle Voorhies Rossman, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, explained how SDCERS participated in the unwinding of Proposition B, which closed the City’s pension system to most new hires between July 20, 2012 and July 10, 2021.Carina Coleman, Chief Investment Officer, provided a summary of SDCERS' investment performance and other investment activities in fiscal year 2022.Gregg Rademacher, Chief Executive Officer, expanded on SDCERS' core values and how these values are upheld by SDCERS’ staff in the pursuit of securing all of our members’ current and future pension benefits.Cynthia Queen, Member Services Director, discussed SDCERS’ fiduciary duty to our members and the importance of communication from a member services standpoint, gave a brief overview of the Member Portal, and encouraged all members to register for their own Member Portal account.We'd like to thank the attendees at this year's meeting for being a wonderful, engaging audience. The meeting was video recorded and you can watch it here. We hope to see you all at next year's meeting!
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For the first time since 2019, this year's SDCERS Annual Membership Meeting will take place in person on October 28th at the Balboa Park Club Ballroom.
The theme of the meeting is aligned with our core values: "A fiduciary builds the strongest trust from bricks of integrity, transparency, and customer service, which is reinforced by accountability and professionalism."
The presenters will include SDCERS’ Board President, Paul Kaufmann; SDCERS’ CEO, Gregg Rademacher; SDCERS’ Deputy CEO, Marcelle Voorhies Rossman; SDCERS’ Chief Investment Officer, Carina Coleman; and SDCERS’ Director of Member Services, Cynthia Queen.Directions: Balboa Park Club Ballroom, 2144 Pan American Road West. Enter Balboa Park from Park Boulevard and turn west on Presidents Way. The Ballroom is located in the South Palisades area of the park, just north of Puppet Theater.
All stakeholders are invited to attend, and no RSVP or registration is required. The meeting will also be video recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel as soon as it is available. We hope to see you all at this year's meeting!
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Note: SDCERS does not provide financial planning advice, but offers these general tips for your retirement planning convenience.
Picture yourself as a retiree: Are you relaxing on a beach somewhere, maybe playing a round of golf? Or are you living retirement check to retirement check, worrying about how you’ll make ends meet? Everyone wants to spend their golden years in comfort. Fortunately, there are things you can do at every stage in life to achieve financial peace of mind in retirement.Step 1: Post-Retirement Income
First things first, you’ll need to identify what your income sources will be after you leave the workforce and estimate what your post-retirement income will be. You can estimate your future pension benefit by logging in to your SDCERS Member Portal account. See the Member Portal FAQs for detailed instructions explaining how to generate pension benefit estimates using the Retirement Benefit Calculator on your Member Portal account.
Your primary post-retirement income might be your SDCERS pension benefit – but don’t forget about other possible income streams you may have access to, such as social security benefits, military pension, 401(k), IRA, and other savings accounts or annuities. Maybe you even own a rental property that generates a steady source of income. These are all things to consider before moving on to Step 2.Step 2: Post-Retirement Budget
So you’ve figured out where your money is going to come from, now you have to figure out how much money you’re going to need. A commonly accepted rule of thumb is to plan on needing about 80% of your pre-retirement income if you want to maintain the same quality of life after retirement. For example, if your annual take-home salary is $100,000, you should assume you’ll need at least $80,000 a year after you retire. Of course, this is just an estimate – some of us will need more than 80%, some of us will need less. Either way, taking the time to consider how your expenses will change in retirement will help you create a retirement budget that’s right for you.
Here are some things to consider when deciding how much income you need after retirement:Post-Retirement Activities – Do you plan on traveling the world after you retire? Maybe you want to finally learn how to golf? Or maybe you’d rather sit on your front porch every day and read all the books you never got around to before. Whatever your retirement dreams are, think about the price tag that might come with your new hobbies.
Residency – Where are you going to live? Consider the cost of living and state taxes of wherever you plan on spending the rest of your life.
Housing – Will you rent or buy? If you think you’ll be renting for the rest of your life, don’t forget to account for future rent increases. If you plan on owning a home, include your mortgage payment, property taxes, HOA fees, and homeowner’s insurance payments in your estimated housing expenses. You might be planning on selling your house and downsizing, in which case don’t forget to include the extra proceeds from the sale as income in your budget!
Healthcare – It can be hard to predict how much you will have to pay out of pocket for healthcare after retirement. You should first become familiar with your retiree healthcare plan, whatever that may be. Depending on your health concerns, you might want to purchase supplemental health insurance. Don’t forget you may be eligible for Medicare at age 65, but it isn’t free. Consider the deductible and monthly payments associated with your plan. Also, healthcare costs tend to increase with age, so it’s not a bad idea to overestimate your budget in this area.Once you’ve considered the additional expenses associated with your post-retirement life, add in your regular recurring monthly expenses such as food, toiletries, car payments, insurance, repairs, etc., and don’t be afraid to be overly cautious – it’s always better to end up under budget rather than over. The final number is your income target. Now, you can strategize based on the income sources you identified in Step 1 to ensure you meet that goal. This may include meeting with an SDCERS retirement counselor to figure out when you will be able to retire with a monthly pension benefit that aligns with your post-retirement budget.
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At its May 13, 2022 meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration approved the Cost of Living Adjustment (“COLA”) that will be applied to eligible SDCERS retirees’ (including active DROP participants) monthly pension benefit amount from July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023. Your pension benefit will receive a COLA for Fiscal Year 2023 if your retirement or DROP entry date is on or before June 30, 2022.
Per San Diego Municipal Code section 24.1505 and section 1301 of the Port and Airport Plans, the COLA is calculated every year based on the change in the cost of living between the two previous Decembers, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), United States – All items. However, the maximum allowable increase in any given year is 2.0%.
In years where the COLA is greater than the maximum 2.0% (such as this year), the amount over 2% is added to what is called a “COLA bank.” A retiree’s COLA bank accumulates based on their fiscal year of retirement (or DROP entry), and each annual retiree group has its own COLA bank. In years that the CPI’s published COLA is less than 2%, each retiree group’s COLA bank may be able to increase the actual COLA received by the retiree up to a maximum of 2%, if that retiree group’s COLA bank has accrued enough funds from previous years where the published COLA was greater than 2%.
According to the CPI, the change in cost of living between December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021 was 7.0% (rounded to the nearest 1/10th of a percent). This means that everyone who is retired or participating in DROP as of June 30, 2022 will receive the maximum 2% COLA increase to their pension benefit, and bank the additional 5.0%.*
*The two members who are in the 1981 retirement plan will receive a COLA increase of 3.2%.
This is significant because that means those who receive the fiscal year 2023 COLA and add the additional 5.0% to their COLA banks are guaranteed to receive a 2% COLA in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, at the very least (assuming we do not experience a negative COLA in either year). Let’s look at a theoretical scenario to really see the significance – please remember that we have absolutely no way of predicting what the CPI’s published COLA will be in future years and this is very much a hypothetical example: If Sam Diego retires or enters DROP in June of 2022 and his monthly pension benefit is $5,000:
You can see how the 5% addition to Sam’s COLA bank right off the bat can help ensure his benefit receives the maximum 2% increase in future years, when the published COLA is less than 2%. In the example above, we assumed that the published COLA applicable to fiscal years 2024-2029 was always between 1.4% and 2.0%. Note that if the published COLA is less in any given years, more would be subtracted from Sam’s COLA bank for those years. Conversely, if the published COLA is greater than 2.0% in any of the given years, then the amount above 2.0% would be once again added to his bank.
This article is not an attempt to persuade you to retire or enter DROP before July 1, 2022 – there are certainly other factors to consider, such as your age, upcoming salary increases, etc. (please review this article discussing factors to consider before deciding when to retire or enter DROP). However, as this is the highest published COLA we’ve seen since 1982, and it is very rare for a retiree to add such a large amount to their COLA bank in a single year, it’s worth noting and may factor into your decision to retire or enter DROP before July 1, 2022. (Note: You must enter DROP at the beginning of a pay period - so, if you enter in June 2022, your entry date must be either June 11 or June 25, 2022.)
If you are eligible to receive a fiscal year 2023 COLA, the applicable increase will be reflected in your July 2022 pension payment.
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When was the last time you thought about your SDCERS beneficiary designations? Over a year ago? Five years? The day you enrolled in SDCERS? Maybe never? Beneficiary designations may seem like a chore you can put off or do once and forget about, but the truth is you should review your beneficiary designations at least once a year to make sure they reflect your current circumstances. For example, beneficiary designations probably aren’t the first thing on your mind when you get married or divorced, have a child, or lose a loved one, but these are all defining life events that may affect who you want to receive your pension benefits when you die.
Active Members (meaning those who are actively employed by the City, Port,* or Airport and contributing to SDCERS, but are not in DROP) are eligible to leave one of three types of death benefits if they die before retiring or entering DROP, and the eligibility requirements are very specific for two of the three types. Importantly, if you die without having designated your surviving spouse as your sole primary beneficiary, then your surviving spouse will not be eligible to receive the lifetime Death While Eligible or Industrial Death Benefit, even if all other eligibility requirements are satisfied. Below is a summary of the death benefits provided to Active Members, but please review the Death Benefits Fact Sheet for more in-depth information.
*General Port employees hired or rehired on or after January 1, 2009 must complete five consecutive years of Port employment after each hire or rehire date before they become Members of SDCERS and are eligible to leave a death benefit.Active Death Benefit – Paid upon the death of a Member who is not yet eligible to retire and whose death is not related to work (or in the event all pre-requisites for the Death While Eligible or Industrial Death Benefit are not satisfied).Death While Eligible Benefit – Paid upon the death of a Member who is already eligible to retire when they die and whose death is not related to work.Industrial Death Benefit – Paid upon the death of a Member whose death is due to work-related causes, as determined by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.(Please review the full article and/or the Death Benefits Fact Sheet for more information about these death benefits.)
As you can imagine, it may take a while to sort out who gets what if you die without updating your beneficiary designations. Luckily, designating a beneficiary is quick, easy, and you can do it from home by logging in to your SDCERS Member Portal account and clicking “Beneficiary Information” from the left menu.
You will be able to name beneficiaries to receive different types of death benefits depending on if you are active, in DROP, or retired. You can designate both a primary and an alternate beneficiary. When you die, your primary beneficiary is first in line to collect the death benefit, while your alternate receives the benefit only if the primary is already deceased. For most death benefits, you can name multiple beneficiaries and designate a specific percentage of the benefit to each person. If you choose to do this, make sure your percentages add up to 100%. Lastly, you may also designate a trust to receive any death benefit that is not a continuance or an annuity. However, you will be required to provide SDCERS with a copy of the trust or certificate of trust.
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The MEA recently posted an article on their website announcing a tentative agreement regarding the invalidation of Proposition B (“Prop B”). You can review this article here. Yesterday, the City Council approved an agreement with the MEA and Local 127 regarding the unwinding of Prop B – you can review the materials associated with this agenda item from yesterday’s meeting, including a summary of the agreement, the draft resolution adopting the agreement, and the staff report on this resolution. The City is still in negotiations with the other relevant labor unions and will release more information once agreements are reached.
Please be advised that SDCERS was not a party to any negotiations, and we do not have any additional information about any tentative or final agreements reached other than what has already been made available to the public. That being said, if you are a Prop B employee (non-sworn City employees initially hired between July 20, 2012 and July 10, 2021) and you do end up becoming an SDCERS member, you will join the most recent plan tier according to your member classification – General, Safety Police, Safety Fire, or Safety Lifeguard. Please review your pension plan summary according to your initial hire date here, where you can see your plan tier’s current contribution rates, retirement factors, eligibility requirements, and more. Active Prop B employees will also have educational trainings assigned to them in Success Factors that must be completed.
To reiterate, SDCERS administers the City’s pension system pursuant to the relevant provisions of the City Charter and San Diego Municipal Code – it does not play a part in negotiating the pension benefits it is charged with administering. Therefore, we will be unable to answer any questions related to the outcome of any negotiations between the City and relevant labor unions regarding Prop B. Please direct any questions regarding Prop B to your respective labor union representative or to the City’s Risk Management Department, which you can contact via email at PropB@sandiego.gov. If you would prefer to ask your questions over the phone, please submit an appointment request using this form: www.sandiego.gov/risk-management/open-enrollment/appointment-request.
SDCERS will not have your name or any information about you in our system until we receive the formal transmittal from the City, which likely will not be until the beginning of September 2022 – approximately two months after you officially join the system on July 9, 2022. This is because joining the system will require a transfer from your SPSP-H account (managed by Principal), and it will take time for the City and Principal to process the requisite paperwork before the transmittal is sent to SDCERS; the transmittal is what provides SDCERS with the identities of the new members and their information. Until that time, SDCERS will not be able to answer any specific questions about your account. Please be sure to view the educational materials available via Success Factors in your SAP account, which provide all of the available information about this transition.
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Just like last year, SDCERS’ 2021 Annual Membership Meeting took place virtually as a recorded Zoom meeting. This was not a live event; instead, you can watch the presentations at your leisure via our YouTube channel by clicking here. The theme of the meeting was "Today, Tomorrow, Together.”
Here is a sneak preview of this year's presentations:Liza Crisafi, Chief Investment Officer, provided a summary of SDCERS' investment performance in fiscal year 2021.Marcelle Voorhies Rossman, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, explained how SDCERS plans for the future, and the differences between retirees in the past compared to retirees in the now.Gregg Rademacher, Chief Executive Officer, talked about how SDCERS adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reassured SDCERS’ membership that its pension system will is planning for tomorrow, today, in order to make sure benefits are paid accurately and timely, and ensure the trust fund’s safety, integrity, and growth.Cynthia Queen, Member Services Director, went over all of the resources available on SDCERS’ website, gave a brief overview of the Member Portal for both active and retired members, and encouraged all members to register for their own Member Portal account if they haven’t already.We encourage you to take the time to watch the meeting and let us know what you think via our Contact Us page. This is an annual event that is usually held in person, giving us an opportunity to engage with our membership. We hope you enjoy the presentations!
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If you are considering ending your employment with the City, due to the pending vaccine mandates or for any other reason, please review our Termination & Deferred Membership fact sheet as well as your plan tier’s Retirement Plan Summary, according to your plan sponsor, membership classification, and initial hire date.
Whether you are terminated for cause or voluntarily end your employment, the circumstances surrounding your departure do not affect your eligibility to receive any SDCERS pension benefits to which you are entitled. As long as you accrue enough service credit (including purchased and reciprocal service credit) to meet your plan tier’s minimum eligibility requirements, you can begin receiving your monthly pension benefit as soon as you become age-eligible. Again, please refer to your Retirement Plan Summary for information about eligibility requirements, as they differ according to plan sponsor and plan tier. You can also log in to your Member Portal account to see if you are currently service-eligible and also to use the benefit estimate calculator, which you can use to run different retirement scenarios and see an estimate of what your monthly pension benefit might be according to each scenario.
If you are (or will be) service and age-eligible to retire when you separate employment, and you are not currently participating in DROP, please submit your electronic service retirement application via your Member Portal account ASAP. You must have a counseling appointment and submit your completed, signed retirement application (not the electronic version – the final application you will discuss with your counselor at your appointment) prior to your retirement date. Ideally, your retirement date should be the day after your termination date. However, if your final application is dated and submitted later, the delayed submission will result in missed days of pension payments.
If you are currently participating in DROP, your retirement date will automatically be the day after your termination date – this is true regardless of if you quit your job or if you are fired. You do need to submit an electronic DROP retirement application and meet with a counselor as soon as possible after termination, but this does not necessarily need to happen prior to your termination date. In this case, a DROP retirement application submitted after your termination date will not result in missed days of pension payments, but it could delay your payments altogether until we have received the requisite paperwork from you.
If you are service-eligible, but not age-eligible to retire upon termination, you do not need an appointment just yet – you will become a “deferred vested” member once you separate employment. No matter where you are in the world, you will be eligible to retire and begin receiving your monthly pension benefit when you become age-eligible. Please log in to your Member Portal account a few months before you become age-eligible and submit your service retirement application. Submitting the electronic application will trigger a staff member to contact you and schedule your retirement counseling appointment.
If you are not service-eligible to retire when you terminate employment and you have no intention of establishing reciprocity elsewhere, you should consider your options regarding your member contributions on deposit with SDCERS. You can leave the funds with SDCERS, where they will earn annual interest at the current discount rate every July (the current rate at the time this article was written is 6.5%), or you can withdraw or rollover the funds (including interest) to an eligible account. If possible, it would be best to schedule a retirement counseling appointment prior to your termination, where your counselor will explain your options in more detail. However, please note that our counseling schedule is typically very busy in November and December, so be sure to plan in advance and review the relevant information on our website ASAP. To schedule an appointment due to terminating employment, you can contact our Call Center, open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., at (619) 525-3600.
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As you may know, Proposition B (“Prop B”) was the San Diego ballot initiative that went into effect July 20, 2012 and amended the City Charter to close the City’s pension system to all new hires except for sworn City police officers. This ballot measure has been in litigation since its inception. In January 2021, a San Diego state trial court issued a verbal ruling from the bench, declaring Prop B to be invalid. This verbal ruling was followed by a written statement of decision, and proponents of Prop B had until April 9, 2021 to appeal the trial court’s ruling.
No appeal was filed by the deadline, which means the trial court’s invalidation of Prop B is final. However, we still do not know exactly how the trial court’s ruling will be implemented. So, what happens next?The City and labor unions will enter into negotiations to decide how the trial court’s decision will be implemented.The City will have to take legislative action (i.e., pass a City Ordinance) to remove Prop B from the City Charter and, if applicable, the San Diego Municipal Code.Once the above actions are completed, we will have more information about enrolling City Members hired since July 20, 2012 into an SDCERS pension plan and their options moving forward. Until then, Proposition B is still in effect – meaning all new City hires (except sworn police officers) since July 20, 2012 continue to contribute to the City’s SPSP-H plan in lieu of participating in an SDCERS defined benefit pension plan.If the invalidation of Prop B affects you, SDCERS anticipates that we will contact you on an individual basis once the above actions have been completed.
NOTE: SDCERS administers the City’s pension system pursuant to the relevant provisions of the City Charter and San Diego Municipal Code – it does not play a part in negotiating the pension benefits it is charged with administering. Please direct any questions regarding Prop B to your respective labor union representative or to the City’s Human Resources Department.
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Proposition B was the San Diego ballot initiative that went into effect July 20, 2012 and amended the City Charter to close the City’s pension system to all new hires except for City police officers. This ballot measure has been in litigation since its inception. Please visit our FAQ’s for more information about the history of Proposition B.
Recently, opponents of Proposition B gained momentum in their quest to overturn the ballot measure: On January 5, 2021, a San Diego state trial court heard oral arguments in this matter and issued a verbal ruling from the bench, declaring Proposition B to be invalid. Currently, the court is drafting a written statement of its decision, which will direct the City Council to erase Proposition B's language from the City Charter. We do not know exactly how this ruling will be implemented – whether it will retroactively provide pension benefits to all City employees who were affected by Proposition B, if these employees will be compensated some other way and begin earning pension benefits prospectively, or if some other resolution will be negotiated. However, it is worth noting that if the trial court's decision is appealed within 60 days of the court’s written statement of decision, any enforcement of the decision may be stalled until the appeal is resolved.
Note: SDCERS is not a party to this litigation. SDCERS administers the City’s pension system pursuant to the relevant provisions of the City Charter and San Diego Municipal Code – it does not play a part in negotiating the pension benefits it is charged with administering.
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In keeping with this year's trend, SDCERS’ 2020 Annual Membership Meeting took place virtually as a recorded Zoom meeting. It was not a live event; rather, you can watch the presentations at your leisure via our YouTube channel by clicking here. The theme of the meeting was "Every Challenge Encountered is an Opportunity for Growth," and the presenters did a great job of explaining what major challenges SDCERS has faced, both recently and in the past, and how SDCERS approached and overcame these obstacles.
Here is a sneak preview of this year's presentations:Liza Crisafi, Chief Investment Officer, provided a summary of SDCERS' investment performance in fiscal year 2020.Marcelle Voorhies Rossman, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, explained how SDCERS handled the COVID-19 pandemic.Gregg Rademacher, Chief Executive Officer, incorporated some of his favorite sayings while he talked about SDCERS' trials and tribulations, both new and old, and reassured SDCERS’ membership that its pension system will meet any challenge in order to pay benefits accurately and timely, and ensure the trust fund’s safety, integrity, and growth.Cynthia Queen, Member Services Director, gave a brief overview of the Member Portal for both active and retired members, and encouraged all members to register for their own Member Portal account if they haven’t already.We encourage you to take the time to watch the meeting and let us know what you think via our Contact Us page. This is an annual event that is usually held in person, giving us an opportunity to engage with our membership. Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet with you all in person this year, but we hope to see you all at next year's meeting!
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For the third year in a row, SDCERS has been awarded the Public Pension Standards Award for Funding and Administration. The Public Pension Coordinating Council grants this award, which recognizes SDCERS for meeting professional standards for plan funding and administration as set forth in the Public Pension Standards.Recognition Award for Administration
SDCERS received the Recognition Award for Administration due to its adherence to the five essential administrative categories:Comprehensive Benefit ProgramActuarialAuditInvestmentsCommunications Recognition Award for Funding
SDCERS received the Recognition Award for Funding because its three plan sponsors (City of San Diego, Port of San Diego, and San Diego County Regional Airport Authority) consistently pay their Annual Required Contributions as determined by the SDCERS Board.
The Public Pension Coordinating Council (PPCC) is a coalition of three national associations that represent public retirement systems and administrators: National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA), the National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR) and the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS). Together, these associations represent more than 500 of the largest pension plans in the United States serving most of the nation’s 16 million employees of state and local government.
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When was the last time you thought about your SDCERS beneficiary designations? Over a year ago? Five years? The day you retired or entered DROP? Maybe never? Beneficiary designations may seem like a chore you can put off or do once and forget about, but the truth is you should review your beneficiary designations at least once a year to make sure they reflect your current circumstances. For example, beneficiary designations probably aren’t the first thing on your mind when you get married or divorced, have a child, or lose a loved one, but these are all defining life events that may affect who you want to receive your pension benefits when you die. This article summarizes the death benefits provided to DROP participants and SDCERS retirees, but please review the Death Benefits Fact Sheet and Retirement Benefit Options Fact Sheet for more in-depth information.
Review the full article to learn about possible death benefits such as:Continuance Benefit$2,000 Retiree Death Benefit & Other Unpaid MoniesDROP Death BenefitUpdating your beneficiary designations is quick, easy, and you can do it from home by logging in to your SDCERS Member Portal account and clicking “Beneficiary Update” from the left menu. (If you don’t already have a Member Portal account, you can register here.)
You will be able to name beneficiaries to receive different types of death benefits depending on if you are active, in DROP, or retired. You can designate both a Primary and an Alternate beneficiary for your $2,000 Retiree Death Benefit and DROP Death Benefit. When you die, your Primary is first in line to collect the death benefit, while your Alternate receives the benefit only if the Primary is already deceased. For some death benefits, you can name multiple beneficiaries and designate a specific percentage of the benefit to each person. If you choose to do this, make sure your percentages add up to 100%. Lastly, you may also designate a trust to receive any death benefit that is not a continuance or an annuity.
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When was the last time you thought about your SDCERS beneficiary designations? Over a year ago? Five years? The day you enrolled in SDCERS? Maybe never? Beneficiary designations may seem like a chore you can put off or do once and forget about, but the truth is you should review your beneficiary designations at least once a year to make sure they reflect your current circumstances. For example, beneficiary designations probably aren’t the first thing on your mind when you get married or divorced, have a child, or lose a loved one, but these are all defining life events that may affect who you want to receive your pension benefits when you die.
Active Members (meaning those who are actively employed by the City, Port,* or Airport and contributing to SDCERS, but are not in DROP) are eligible to leave one of three types of death benefits if they die before retiring or entering DROP, and the eligibility requirements are very specific for two of the three types. Importantly, if you die without having designated your surviving spouse as your sole pre-retirement death benefit beneficiary, then your surviving spouse will not be eligible to receive the lifetime Death While Eligible or Industrial Death Benefit, even if all other eligibility requirements are satisfied. This article contains a summary of the death benefits provided to Active Members, but please review the Death Benefits Fact Sheet for more in-depth information.
*General Port employees hired or rehired on or after January 1, 2009 must complete five consecutive years of Port employment after each hire or rehire date before they become Members of SDCERS and are eligible to leave a death benefit.
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At the January meeting, SDCERS' Board of Administration took another important step toward pension stability by voting to set minimum annual pension payments of the Unfunded Actuarial Liability (UAL) for the City of San Diego and the Port of San Diego.
This minimum payment is also referred to as a "floor," meaning even if the required annual payment is less than the "floor," that minimum amount must be paid each year. The UAL floor payment for the City was set at $275.5 million and $13.3 million for the Port. This is based on the June 30, 2018 actuarial valuations which set the payment amount for the fiscal 2020 payment to the retirement system.
The new policy increases benefit security and helps the pension fund reach full funding by 2037, several years earlier than anticipated.
The Board also voted to prospectively limit the long-term impacts of changes to the assumed rate of return (discount rate), retirement rates, and life expectancy assumptions, to a 20-year period from the previous 30-year period.
A video of the Board discussion and vote is available here.
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On August 2, 2018, the California Supreme Court overruled the Court of Appeal's decision regarding Proposition B. The Supreme Court found that a violation of meet and confer labor laws occurred in connection with the passage of Proposition B and sent the case back to the Court of Appeal to address the appropriate remedy for the violation. The Supreme Court's decision does not require any immediate action by SDCERS. Although SDCERS is not a party to these legal proceedings, SDCERS will continue to monitor these legal proceedings and will update this website and its members when it receives additional information. Represented City of San Diego employees should contact their labor union for additional information and unrepresented City employees should contact City Human Resources.
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This information explains the reasons that, for some SDCERS members, the annual Form 1099-R you receive is issued as “Taxable Amount Not Determined” and the amount in Box 2a of the form is reported as $0.00 (zero). Learn More...
There is no shortage of news media coverage focused on how public pension funds, in California and across the country, are yielding significant investment returns while simultaneously growing liabilities even faster. Learn More...