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At the September Board meeting, SDCERS reported a net return of 7.2% for Fiscal Year 2024. As of June 30, 2024, the trust fund’s assets totaled approximately $11.3billion. SDCERS’ annualized rate of return over the past 10 years is 6.7%, and its return since inception is 8.6%.
SDCERS’ net return for Fiscal Year 2024 of 7.2% was higher than its assumed rate of return (6.5%), but below the policy benchmark, which posted an 8.9% return for the year. The policy benchmark is a measure of how the Total Fund would have performed if the actively managed public portions of the portfolio had been completely passively invested in index funds, and if the private portions of the portfolio achieved stated benchmark returns.
Differences in the portfolio’s composition relative to the policy benchmark, as well as managers’ selection of specific assets within specific asset classes, hurt SDCERS’ relative returns. Specifically, SDCERS did not meet its benchmark for FY 2024 primarily due to the Fund’s overweight to specific areas within Private Equity, which underperformed in a difficult fundraising and exiting environment.
While Private Equity enjoyed fantastic returns in 2021 and 2022, the asset class was challenged in 2023 and into 2024 as a result of the Fed’s interest rate hiking cycle, which created a less favorable environment for Initial Public Offerings amidst higher borrowing costs. SDCERS’ overweight to private equity hurt returns from both an allocation and selection effect, as private equity as an asset class underperformed, and also from a selection effect, as private equity holdings within SDCERS’ portfolio underperformed the private equity benchmark by 9.7% due to valuation write-downs and a larger growth equity tilt.
Performance can also be measured in comparison to returns of other public pension plans, though it is important to remember that different plans have a variety of circumstances impacting their asset allocations and, in turn, their return targets. SDCERS compares very favorably against its peers over longer time periods – posting returns in the upper second quartile of the universe over the most recent10-year period ending June 30, 2024. Over the past 20 years, SDCERS’ return is in the top quartile of similarly-sized public pension plans. SDCERS’ risk-adjusted return, which takes into account reward for risk undertaken, is in the top quartile compared to similarly-sized public pension plans over the past 5 and 10 years.
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If you are a City of San Diego retiree, you are likely used to SDCERS managing your City retiree health benefits – this includes administering City Retiree Health Open Enrollment every year and processing health-related reimbursements. Although SDCERS has assumed the role of the City’s retiree health administrator for many years, this is not actually part of SDCERS’ mandate as the City’s pension plan administrator. After much collaboration and discussion, SDCERS and the City determined that it was in the best interest of the retirees to transition City retiree health to an outside vendor that specializes in benefits administration. This change is an enhancement to the City’s retiree health program and our goal is to provide retirees with the highest level of service available in the industry.
Therefore, in 2023, the City issued a Request for Proposals for the administration of retiree health benefits processing. We are pleased to announce that the City has selected Benefit Outsourcing Solutions as our new benefits administration partner, which will be operating under the name “City of San Diego Retiree Health Service Center” (“City Retiree Health Services”). SDCERS is committed to making this transition as smooth as possible and to providing you with timely information and updates.
Important Dates and Transition DetailsNovember 1 – 30, 2024: City Retiree Health Services will begin accepting enrollment and disenrollment forms during the Annual Open Enrollment period. You will receive the calendar year 2025 Annual City Retiree Health Open Enrollment Booklet via U.S. mail in late October and an electronic version will be available online by October 31st. City Retiree Health Services will also provide information about how to enroll or disenroll online, although you may still submit paper forms if you would like. Please contact City Retiree Health Services in November if you need assistance enrolling or disenrolling in a plan. As always, if you are not making any changes to your health plan, then you do not need to take any action at this time.January 1, 2025: City Retiree Health Services will begin administering retire health plan reimbursements, including reimbursements for privately secured healthcare plans and Medicare premiums. Starting in January 2025, contact City Retiree Health Services directly for any questions on these topics.Please continue to contact SDCERS for questions regarding retiree health plan reimbursements through December 31, 2024.What Will Stay the SameAll sponsored healthcare, dental, and vision providers and plans will remain unchanged for the calendar year 2025, although the premiums may be different. Look for the Annual Open Enrollment Booklet, which will be mailed in mid-October 2024.If you choose not to make any changes during Open Enrollment, your current plans will remain in effect through 2025. No action is required on your end.Payment for sponsored dental and vision plan premiums, as well as sponsored healthcare plan dependent coverage, will continue to be deducted from your monthly SDCERS pension payment.Reimbursements for privately secured healthcare premiums and Medicare premiums will continue to be paid through your monthly SDCERS pension payment.Continue to update your contact information via your SDCERS Member Portal – any changes made through the Member Portal will be reflected in City Retiree Health Services’ files as well.
If you have an Option C trust account, continue to submit reimbursement requests through your Option C trust administrator. What Will ChangeStarting January 1, 2025, all new reimbursement requests and sponsored healthcare, dental, and vision plan enrollments and disenrollments will be processed through City Retiree Health Services.Also beginning in January 2025, eligible retirees may begin applying for Medicare Part A reimbursements, retroactive to January 1, 2024.If you are currently paying $174.70 per month for your Medicare Part B premium, additional verification is no longer required. However, if your current monthly Part B premium is different (e.g., due to IRMAA or low-income subsidy), then you must send verification documentation to City Retiree Health Services.Beginning November 1, 2024, you can visit City Retiree Health Services’ website to review your retiree healthcare benefit information. You will not be able to register your account until you have received a letter from City Retiree Health Services with additional registration information and instructions.
In the coming weeks, you will receive a letter from City Retiree Health Services outlining these changes and providing contact information. Please be sure to open any letters you receive from City Retiree Health Services, as they will contain important information about your retiree healthcare benefits and plans.
We understand that transitions such as this can be stressful and you may have questions or concerns. We want to reassure you that SDCERS is working closely with City Retiree Health Services to ensure a smooth transition of your retiree health benefits administration. To stay up to date about this transition, visit the City Retiree Health page – this page will be updated periodically as we receive updates from City Retiree Health Services.
If you wish to speak to an SDCERS representative over the phone, please be advised that SDCERS anticipates callers will experience increased hold times between October and December. Therefore, we encourage you to utilize the Contact Us page on our website or send inquiries directly to health@sdcers.org rather than calling the main line. Electronic inquiries will generally be answered within three business days. Thank you in advance for your patience!
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled September 2024 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the September 2024 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
September 12th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
September 13th – Board of Administration meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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SDCERS was one of 157 public pension plans that participated in the National Conference on Public Retirement Systems’ (NCPERS) 2024 study, which invited public pension systems across the continent to share information on plan design, investment allocation, investment returns, actuarial assumptions, and plan governance practices. In recognition of SDCERS’ participation, NCPERS awarded SDCERS with its Certificate of Transparency. This certificate acknowledges SDCERS’ commitment to furthering an atmosphere of openness between public pension systems and the public. As “transparency” is one of SDCERS’ six core values, we were honored to receive this award. SDCERS strives to promote and maintain an open and honest relationship with its members, plan sponsors, and the public.
NCPERS is the largest trade association for public pensions, representing approximately 500 plans, plan sponsors, and other stakeholders through the U.S. and Canada. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, NCPERS is comprises a network of trustees, administrators, public officials, and investment processionals who collectively oversee approximately $4 trillion in retirement funds.
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UPDATE: Our physical offices will reopen Monday, August 26, 2024.
ATTENTION: Due to an ongoing A/C outage, SDCERS' physical downtown offices will be closed until the problem is resolved. However, SDCERS staff continues to work remotely at this time.
If you have an in-person retirement counseling appointment this week, your counselor will reach out to you with further instructions or your options for rescheduling.
Please contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600 if you have any additional questions or concerns. The Call Center is open on regular business days from 9:00 am. - noon, and 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you in advance for your understanding! This article will be updated when our offices are able to reopen.
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At the July 12th Board meeting, SDCERS’ new Board President, Lisa Marie Harris, appointed Clifford Schireson to her previous position of Vice President, with the Board unanimously confirming his appointment. The Vice President’s duties include acting as the Board President whenever the Board President is absent or otherwise unable to fulfill their duties, and temporarily assuming the role of Board President until an election can be scheduled in the event the current Board President’s seat becomes vacant. Mr. Schireson will also continue his position as the Chair of the Investment Committee.
Please join us in welcoming our new Vice President! Mr. Schireson’s biography can be found on our Board Members page. You can also watch the July 12, 2024 Board meeting here.
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As SDCERS staff teleworks for a portion of each week, there may not always be a retiree health staff member available in the office to assist members in person. Moving forward, please submit your retiree health documentation to SDCERS via our Retiree Health mailbox at health@sdcers.org. As always, please ensure any attachments are in PDF format, or your email may be blocked by our firewalls.
If you require immediate, in person assistance, you must travel to SDCERS’ downtown offices on a Tuesday or Thursday (not including holidays) between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. You are encouraged to call ahead to confirm availability of a retiree health staff member. SDCERS’ Call Center is open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon, and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Also, if you have a retiree health reimbursement plan through your City employment, your annual reimbursement allowance may have changed for fiscal year 2025. See this chart for updated City retiree health reimbursement allowances, which vary depending on your specific health reimbursement plan. City retiree health reimbursement allowances are based on a fiscal year calendar (July 1st – June 30th each year) and the annual allowances listed in the document linked above are effective as of July 1, 2024 and will reset on June 30, 2025.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled July 2024 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the July 2024 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
July 10th – Audit Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
July 11th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
July 12th – Board of Administration meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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IMPORTANT: These changes only apply to (1) all City of San Diego members and (2) Port Safety members who were hired on or after January 1, 2013.
Member contributions are the mandatory pre-tax deductions on a member’s biweekly paycheck that are deposited into the SDCERS Trust Fund, where they earn interest and ultimately fund each member’s individual pension benefit. Contributions are calculated as a percentage of the member’s pensionable salary on each paycheck. The percentage is determined according to the member’s plan tier and age of entry into SDCERS. Contribution rates are adjusted by SDCERS’ Board, as recommended by SDCERS’ actuary, based on requirements in the City of San Diego Charter and the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013.
At its May 2024 meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration approved new member contribution rates, which will go into effect on July 1, 2024 for all Port Safety Members hired on or after January 1, 2013, and all City of San Diego members. You can view your current contribution rate chart by going to “Retirement Plan Summaries” and clicking on your employer and date range corresponding to your initial hire date. You can also see how your contribution rate changed by reviewingthe chart corresponding to your plan tier and locating your entry age. (Note: If you log in to your Member Portal account and go to “SDCERS Account Information,” you can find your entry age there.) Most members will experience slightly increased contribution rates – this is due to changes in certain actuarial assumptions. The aggregate average across the board increase was approximately 1 percentage point.
According to the most recent annual valuation, the most significant change to the economic assumptions was an increase in the annual cost of living adjustment (“COLA”), from 1.90% to 2.00%. In addition, the price inflation and wage inflation assumptions were updated. Previously, the price inflation assumption and the wage inflation assumption were both 3.05%. Under the revised assumptions, the price inflation assumption is 3.00% and the wage inflation assumption is 3.25%, which is price inflation plus productivity. There were other minor adjustments to the demographic assumptions, including a change to the assumed mortality improvement scale to better anticipate future improvements in life expectancy. Overall, the new assumptions increase the expected cost to the system; therefore, members and their plan sponsors must contribute more while they are working in order to keep the system properly funded, given the added cost due to these new assumptions.
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If you receive anything in the mail from the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) or Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), it is extremely important that you open it immediately!
A small number of SDCERS’ retirees have experienced issues related to their Medicare Part B premiums. The affected retirees were required to pay their Medicare Part B premiums directly to CMS because they either 1) do not receive a monthly Social Security benefit, or 2) do receive a monthly Social Security benefit, but the amount is not enough to cover their Medicare Part B premiums. However, these retirees failed to make timely payments for their Part B premiums to CMS, resulting in the loss of their Medicare Part B coverage, and were subsequently either disenrolled from a sponsored Medicare Supplemental plan or they were switched to a much more expensive non-Medicare plan, with the higher monthly premiums owed retroactively to the date they lost their Medicare coverage.
If you fail to pay your monthly or quarterly Medicare Part B premiums in full and on time, you may become delinquent, causing your Medicare coverage to be at risk. Note that we have received reports from retirees stating that they never received information from the SSA regarding unpaid premiums before their Medicare coverage was terminated! Medicare may not send monthly or quarterly invoices – if you are paying all or a portion of your Medicare Part B premiums directly to CMS, it is imperative that you periodically check with the SSA to confirm your premiums are paid in full and on time.
If you have concerns about your status with Medicare, you should contact Social Security online at www.SSA.gov, go in person to any Social Security Office, or contact Social Security by phone at (800) 633-4227.
If you have not yet started your Medicare application process, please contact your local SSA office or visit www.SSA.gov to find out if you are eligible and see information on how to apply.
Please evaluate your healthcare coverage options carefully! Enrolling in a Medicare insurance plan may reduce your costs. However, note that you should not enroll in Medicare Part D (Prescription Drug Coverage) if you are enrolling in a health plan that already includes prescription drug coverage, because enrolling in Part D may result in the termination of your current health insurance coverage.
Health plan experts are available at CareCounsel to assist retirees, free of charge, with any health plan questions including questions about Medicare – email staff@carecounsel.com or call (888) 227-3334 Monday – Friday, open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. CareCounsel also provides helpful videos on their website that may answer your questions about Medicare: https://carecounsel.com/medicare.html.
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SDCERS is excited to announce Lisa Marie Harris as the SDCERS Board of Administration’s President. Lisa Marie will be serving a one-year Presidential term with the possibility to serve a second one-year term. Lisa Marie previously served two terms as the Board Vice-President with service as interim President and interim Investment Committee Chair. Former Board President, Paul Kaufmann, served with distinction during his two one-year terms and confidently passed the gavel to Lisa Marie’s capable hands upon unanimous support from the entire board. We look forward to her continued leadership in her new position.
Congratulations to our Board Vice President! You can see all of the SDCERS Board Members’ biographies, including Lisa Marie's, on this page.
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At today’s 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 beginning with their July 2024 payment. Your pension benefit will receive a COLA for Fiscal Year 2024 if your retirement or DROP entry date is on or before June 30, 2024.
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 2.0% 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 2.0%, each retiree group’s COLA bank may be able to increase the actual COLA received by the retiree up to a maximum of 2.0%, if that retiree group’s COLA bank has accrued enough funds from previous years where the published COLA was greater than 2.0%.
According to the CPI, the change in cost of living between December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2023 was 3.4% (rounded to the nearest 1/10th of a percent). This means that everyone who is retired or participating in DROP as of June 30, 2024 will receive the maximum 2.0% COLA increase to their pension benefit, and bank the additional 1.4%. This means that those who receive the fiscal year 2025 COLA and add the additional 1.4% to their COLA banks will be able to use the amount accrued in their COLA bank in future years, such that they would still receive a 2.0% increase, even if the published COLA is less than 2.0%.
(Note: The two members in the City's 1981 plan tiers will have a 2.4% COLA for FY 2025.)
This article is not an attempt to persuade you to retire or enter DROP before July 1, 2024 – 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 this article discussing considerations when deciding upon a DROP entry date). However, it’s always worth noting when the published COLA is greater than 2.0%, as this may factor into your decision to retire or enter DROP before the beginning of the next fiscal year.
(Note: You must enter DROP on the first day of a pay period – please consult your payroll specialist to confirm your pay period start dates in June.)
If you are eligible to receive a fiscal year 2025 COLA, the applicable increase will be reflected in your July 2024 pension payment.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled May 2024 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the May 2024 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
May 9th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
May 10th – Board of Administration meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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Please remember that SDCERS staff teleworks for a portion of each week, and there may not always be a retiree health staff member available in the office to assist members in person. Moving forward, if you would like to speak with a retiree health staff member in person, you must travel to SDCERS’ downtown offices on a Tuesday or Thursday (excluding holidays) between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
You are encouraged to call ahead to confirm availability of a retiree health staff member, especially if you are requesting to have your documents reviewed. SDCERS’ Call Center is open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon, and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
You can also reach SDCERS’ retiree health staff via email, at health@sdcers.org.
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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 will be holding its regularly scheduled March 2024 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the March 2024 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
March 6th – Audit Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
March 7th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
March 8th – Board of Administration meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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When it comes to retirement or entering DROP, timing is everything. One consideration when choosing your date is the effect of retiring or entering DROP before versus on June 30th (or earlier) compared to July 1st (or later) of any given year.
The main benefit of retiring or entering DROP towards the end of a fiscal year is that you will receive the next fiscal year’s cost of living adjustment (“COLA”) much sooner than if you wait to retire or enter DROP until the beginning of the next fiscal year. Everyone who retires or enters DROP before July 1st in any given year is eligible to receive that year’s COLA on their July pension payment, which usually increases your base pension benefit by 1-2% (maximum of 2% per year). However, if you retire or enter DROP on or after July 1st, you won’t receive a COLA until the July of the following year, when the next fiscal year begins. For example, let’s say your base pension benefit is $3,000 per month. If you retire on June 30, 2024 and the COLA effective July 1, 2024 is 2%, you’ll receive an additional $60 on each month’s pension check from July 2024 through June 2025, which comes to an additional $720 for the year. That’s $720 you’d miss out on if you chose to retire on or after July 1, 2024. (Note: The fiscal year 2025 COLA, effective July 2024, will be decided at the May 10, 2024 Board meeting – you can check SDCERS’ website the following week, which will have an article on the front page announcing what the July 2024 COLA will be.)
On the flip side, it’s possible you could increase your base pension benefit by waiting until after a new fiscal year has begun to retire or enter DROP. The logic behind this conclusion lies in your pension benefit formula: Retirement Factor x Final Compensation x Service Credit. First, retiring at an older age may grant you a higher retirement factor – remember that retirement factors are prorated in quarterly increments, so if your plan tier’s factor increases between age 62 and 63, for example, it will be slightly higher if you retire at age 62 ¼ compared to age 62. Second, the longer you continue to work before you retire, the more service credit you will accrue. In general, more service credit means a higher pension benefit. Lastly, if you recently received a salary increase, working longer while receiving that higher salary can increase your final compensation. Looking at the pension benefit formula, you can see that an increased final compensation will result in a greater pension benefit.
However, the thing to remember about your final compensation is that you must receive the higher salary for at least several months in order for it to have a noticeable effect on your pension benefit amount. The “Final Compensation” used in your pension benefit calculation is your highest pensionable salary averaged over either one or three years, depending on your plan tier. Therefore, if you only began receiving your increased salary in the beginning of the calendar year, you may want to keep working for at least several months into the new fiscal year in order to see a significant difference in your benefit amount. In order for your higher salary to be used in full when calculating your benefit, you’d have to continue working for one or three years from the date of your salary increase, again depending on your plan tier.
One more possible benefit of retiring or entering DROP after the start of a new fiscal year has to do with your cost of living (“COL”) annuity and interest applied to member contributions.* Your member contributions receive annual interest, currently at a rate of 6.5%, applied every June 30th. However, your contribution account do not receive that year’s interest if you are retired or participating in DROP before July 1st. Depending on your specific circumstances and the COLA for that year, waiting to retire or enter DROP until after the interest has been applied to your contributions may increase your COL annuity to such an extent that the higher COL annuity, combined with any other applicable benefits of waiting as discussed above, could be more financially beneficial to you than the COLA would be. If this is true in your case, it could make more sense to retire or enter DROP on or after July 1st. (Note: The same logic applies to your Surviving Spouse Annuity, if you select the Maximum Benefit (Single) retirement benefit option – see the Retirement Benefit Options Fact Sheet for more information.)
*Police officers hired on or after August 1, 2012 and Port General 2024 Membersdo not receive the COL annuity.
To be clear, the financial pros and cons of retiring or entering DROP before vs. after the start of a new fiscal year depend on multiple factors and your individual circumstances. There is no one size fits all regarding retirement/DROP entry date – it is a very personal decision and should be made after careful consideration of all relevant factors. This article is intended to inform you of some possible benefits of retiring before or after July 1st of a given year. Also, if you are considering entering DROP, please be reminded that your DROP entry date must be on the first day of a pay period – the last day to enter DROP before the beginning of Fiscal Year 2025 will be June 22, 2024 for City members and June 28, 2024 for Port and Airport members. Please submit your service retirement or DROP entry application via your Member Portal account soon if you are thinking about retiring or entering DROP before July 1st, so you can schedule a counseling appointment in May or early June – don’t procrastinate!
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All IRS Form 1099-R’s for tax year 2023 were mailed on January 16th. This means all SDCERS retirees and beneficiaries who received a payment from SDCERS in calendar year 2023 should be receiving their 2023 1099-R forms via U.S. mail over the next couple of weeks. To access your 1099-R form sooner, please log in to your Member Portal account, click on “Tax Reporting” on the left, and select “2023 1099R” to download an electronic copy. You can also update your tax withholding preferences on your Member Portal by clicking on “Tax Withholding.” This guide explains how to update your tax withholding preferences.
For a detailed explanation of the pertinent information in your 1099-R, as well as answers to frequently asked questions regarding this tax form, please review our 1099-R Fact Sheet. If you have additional questions, please contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600 or submit your questions electronically via our Contact Us web form.
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Friday, SDCERS said a bittersweet goodbye to our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Marcelle Voorhies Rossman, who retired after attending her last SDCERS Board meeting as part of our staff. Marcelle gave more than 23 years of her career to the City of San Diego, and about 10 of those years were spent on SDCERS’ team. After many years leading our Benefits Administration Division, Marcelle spent the last six years as our Deputy CEO, overseeing not only Benefits Administration, but also Member Services, Finance, Retiree Health, Disability Retirement, and Death Benefits. Her knowledge of actuarial science and her expertise when it comes to organizing and analyzing spreadsheets is unparalleled. In recent years, Marcelle took the lead working with the City to facilitate the reversal of Proposition B, a huge undertaking that required near-constant attention and coordination across multiple City departments.
While Marcelle’s upbeat attitude, motivational leadership style, and institutional knowledge will be sorely missed, we know she has trained her team well and prepared SDCERS staff to fill in the hole she leaves behind. Please join us as, with mixed emotions, we congratulate our esteemed Deputy CEO on her well-earned retirement.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled January 2024 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the January 2024 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
January 11th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
January 12th – Board of Administration meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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The Government Financial Officers Association (“GFOA”) has awarded SDCERS the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for SDCERS’ 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (“ACFR”) and Popular Annual Financial Report (“PAFR”). This is the 15th year in a row SDCERS has received this recognition!
The GFOA is a non-profit professional association serving approximately 15,000 government finance professionals. SDCERS’ ACFR and PAFR were judged by an impartial panel and deemed to have met the high standards of the certificate program, including demonstrating an effective means to disclose and clearly communicate SDCERS’ financial story and to motivate Members and the public to read the ACFR and PAFR. This award is the highest form of recognition in the area of government accounting and financial reporting. It represents a significant accomplishment by a governmental agency and its management.
SDCERS’ award-winning ACFRs and PAFRs are available online and can be viewed here.
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SDCERS is proud to announce it has received the Municipal Information System Association of California (MISAC) Quality Information Technology Practices Award for the sixth year in a row. MISAC is a collaborative organization of California local government IT professionals with the goal of promoting leadership, information sharing, and access to resources to enhance local government services and effectiveness. Membership includes cities, towns, public safety, special districts, and other local governmental agencies/districts.
The award qualifications for 2023 changed to follow the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP800-53P standards. The NIST standards is a set of recommended security and privacy controls followed for federal information systems and organizations. Agencies respond using the control catalog covering the standards of low, moderate and high. Those agencies that achieve a minimum of 80% of the controls are recognized with the MISAC Quality in IT Practices award.
Receiving MISAC Quality IT Practices Award is an honor and tribute to the dedication and performance of SDCERS’ IT staff and contractors.
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If you are a City retiree currently receiving health reimbursements from SDCERS for Medicare Part B premiums, you should have recently received a letter in the mail from SDCERS. The standard Medicare Part B premiums are increasing from $164.90 to $174.70 per month, beginning in January 2024.Please submit the 2024 Benefit Verification Letter to SDCERS as soon as possible, confirming the changes to your Medicare Part B premium. Note that if you are paying your premiums out of pocket, you will not have a Benefit Verification Letter, and instead will need to provide SDCERS with the statement you should receive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). If your premium has not changed, you do not need to submit anything.
To obtain your 2024 Benefit Verification Letter, visit www.ssa.gov, and then either sign in or sign up for a personal “my Social Security” account. Once you’ve accessed your account, follow the instructions to download your Benefit Verification Letter. You can also call your local Social Security office. Please do not contact SDCERS for help accessing this letter, as SDCERS staff will be unable to assist.
We are anticipating a large number of submissions this year due to the premium change. If you submit all of the proper paperwork to SDCERS and it is received by our office on or before January 10, 2024, we will do our best to have the updated premium amount reimbursement reflected on your January 2024 pension benefit payment. If your paperwork is received after this date, or if we were unable to process your paperwork in time, then the adjusted reimbursement amount will be included in the following payroll cycle, assuming all required documentation is received.
You may submit your 2024 Benefit Verification Letter to SDCERS in the following ways:*E-mail a copy (in PDF format) to: health@sdcers.orgFax a copy to: (858) 581-5314Mail a copy to: 401 West A Street, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101 Attn: Health *IMPORTANT: Email is the fastest way to provide SDCERS with your documents. However, if you submit your Benefit Verification Letter (and/or any other health-related paperwork) via email, please be sure any attachments are in PDF format only. You should receive an automated confirmation email within 24 hours of your email submission; however, if you do not receive this confirmation email, it does not necessarily mean we didn’t receive your email. First, please check your spam or junk folder to see if the confirmation email ended up there.
Please refrain from calling us to confirm that your Benefit Verification Letter has been received. The SDCERS staff who answer the phones are also processing the documents, and additional phone calls may cause delays. If you believe you provided us with timely documentation, but are not reimbursed the increased amount in your January 2024 pension payment, then please contact our Retiree Health Team at (619) 525-3600 or health@sdcers.org in February.
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At today’s meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration voted to approve staff’s recommended DROP account and DROP annuity interest rates for the next calendar year – meaning these rates will be effective January 1, 2024. The DROP accountrate is the interest rate used by SDCERS while a Member is in DROP and the DROP annuityrate is the interest rate used by SDCERS to annuitize the DROP monies of a Member who has exited DROP and selected the DROP annuity option. These rates are calculated annually using publicly available indexes as of September 30th of each year. (See Board Rule 6.10(c) and 6.40(b), and the SDCERS CEO’s memorandum presented at the January 2022 Board meeting for more information about how these rates are calculated.)
Therefore, effective January 1, 2024, the annual DROP account interest rate (compounded quarterly) will increase significantly to 4.2%, compared to the current rate of 2.5%. This interest rate will be compounded quarterly and applied to all active DROP participants’ accounts as long as the participant is actively employed by their plan sponsor on the last day of each quarter. This rate is subject to change annually, which means a DROP participant’s account may receive a different interest rate every year during their participation period.
The DROP annuity interest rate will increase to 4.6%, compared to the current rate of 2.9%. This interest rate will be applied to the funds remaining in a DROP retiree’s account when they exit DROP, if the retiree chooses to annuitize all or part of their DROP account, and it will be factored into the calculation of their monthly DROP annuity payment. Please note that the retiree’s DROP exit date must be during calendar year 2024 in order for the 4.6% annuity factor to apply.
Unlike the DROP account interest rate, the DROP annuity rate will not change for an individual member – the rate that is in effect when a member exits DROP is the rate that will be applied to their annuity calculation, regardless of whether or not the DROP annuity rate changes in future years. Therefore, when you are getting close to your DROP retirement date, your decision to exit DROP before or after the New Year may be affected by the Board’s decision to increase or decrease the DROP annuity interest rate. However, if you do not plan to annuitize your DROP account upon exiting DROP, then the DROP annuity rate changes will not affect you. Click here to review your options regarding how you can receive the funds in your DROP account when you exit DROP.
Please attend a DROP Entry webinar if you are planning to enter DROP soon! As of the date of this article, the November 27th DROP entry webinar from noon – 2:00 p.m. has 20 open spots – please use the following link to register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9081807050801528666. There will be another webinar in December that has not yet been scheduled. If you are within 3 months of your DROP entry date and are unable to register for either the November or December webinars, please contact SDCERS and let us know.
Please attend a DROP Exit webinar if you are nearing your target DROP exit date! The next DROP exit webinar will be November 28th from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., and you can register using the following link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7587965465274533643. There will be another DROP exit webinar in December, but it has not yet been scheduled. If you are within 3 months of your DROP exit and are unable to register for either the November or December webinars, please contact SDCERS and let us know.
If you are considering entering or exiting DROP soon, you must begin the process by first going to your Member Portal account and clicking on either “Online Applications” or “DROP Retirement Application” (whichever is applicable to you) from the left menu, under Tools. Review this information, make your selections, and submit the initial application online. Once received, you will be contacted by an SDCERS staff member to schedule your personal counseling appointment. At your appointment, you can ask questions and make any changes to your application. Your electronic application is not final and you have not officially scheduled your DROP entry or exit date until you’ve submitted your signed application signature page, which will be given to you by your retirement counselor during or after your appointment.
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At its November 3, 2023 meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration approved payment of the Annual Supplemental Benefit for eligible retirees and continuance beneficiaries. The Annual Supplemental Benefit is paid in years when the fund’s investment earnings are sufficient to qualify, according to a set formula defined in the plan documents.
In addition, the Corbett Settlement Increase (“Corbett benefit”) is paid to eligible retirees and continuance beneficiaries in years that the Annual Supplemental Benefit is paid. If you are eligible for one or both of these benefits, payment will be included in your November 2023 monthly pension payment.
The eligibility requirements for the Annual Supplemental Benefit and Corbett benefit are described in our FAQs under “Annual Supplemental Benefit, Corbett, COLA, COL Annuity.” Here, you will also find a description of how these benefits are calculated.
In addition to the requirements outlined in the FAQ’s, in order to be eligible for the 2023 Annual Supplemental Benefit, a retiree or continuance beneficiary must have been (1) alive, and (2) eligible to receive a monthly pension benefit payment on October 1, 2023. If an eligible retiree died on or after October 1, 2023, the retiree’s continuance beneficiary is not eligible for their own Annual Supplemental Benefit this year. In this case, the retiree’s Annual Supplemental Benefit payment will be included in the $2,000 Retiree Death Benefit and Other Payable Monies, which is paid to the beneficiary(ies) designated to receive that death benefit.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled November 2023 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the November 2023 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.Meeting Dates
November 2nd – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
November 3rd – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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Retiree health open enrollment for City of San Diego retirees will run from November 1st through November 30th. The calendar year 2024 City retiree health booklets have been mailed out to all eligible City retirees and beneficiaries, and an electronic version of the booklet is also available here. You can also download and complete enrollment forms by visiting the City Retiree Health page. After you’ve completed an enrollment (or disenrollment) form, you must send it to SDCERS by November 30th – we prefer you scan your forms and email them as a PDF attachment to health@sdcers.org, but you may also fax them to (858) 581-5314, or mail them to our offices at:
SDCERS – Health Division
401 West A Street, Suite 800
San Diego, CA 92101
As always, if you do not wish to make any changes to your current healthcare coverage, you do not need to take any action during open enrollment and your coverage will remain the same. There are no new plans this year and no significant changes to existing plans in terms of coverage, with the exception of the SCAN Medicare plan – please see this article for more information about upcoming changes to this plan.
SDCERS will not be holding any in-person open enrollment events. However, SDCERS will participate in the Retiree Help Day hosted by SDPEBA (San Diego Public Employee Benefit Association), which will be held on November 1st, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (PST). You can register for SDPEBA’s Retiree Help Day here.
If you are comparing different plans and trying to decide which is best for you, don’t forget about CareCounsel! CareCounsel Member Care Specialists are available for your healthcare inquiries and concerns. You can call them at (888) 227-3334 or e-mail staff@carecounsel.com Monday – Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. CareCounsel also provides helpful videos on their website that may answer your questions about Medicare, here: https://carecounsel.com/medicare.html.
SDCERS’ Call Center is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (PST), at (619) 525-3600 and (800) 774-4977. Remember that if you need to come into our physical offices for any reason related to retiree health, please ensure you come in on a Tuesday or Thursday, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (PST). Please be patient with our hard-working staff; we are working with limited resources and call wait times may be longer than usual due to an expected increase in health-related calls. You can also submit electronic inquiries through our Contact Us page.
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SDCERS’ 2023 Annual Membership Meeting will take place in person on October 27th at the Balboa Park Club Ballroom.
The theme of the meeting is: "We nurture the seeds of retirement so you can enjoy the harvest." Join us for informative presentations addressing your retirement system administrator, learn about the security of your future pension benefits, and win candy prizes!
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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City Retirees: 2024 City Retiree Health Open Enrollment will begin on November 1, 2023 and end November 30, 2023. The 2024 Retiree Health Booklets will be mailed in late October. This booklet provides details for all healthcare plans offered through the City of San Diego and the San Diego Public Employee Benefit Association (SDPEBA). You can also access an electronic version of this booklet on the City Retiree Health page. The electronic version will be available no later than October 30, 2023.IMPORTANT: Significant changes are coming to the City's SCAN retiree health plan.
Effective January 1, 2024, Scripps Clinics and Scripps Coastal will no longer be part of the SCAN Health Plan provider network.
The Scripps relationship will continue for the following facilities:Mercy Physicians Medical GroupScripps Physicians Medical GroupPrimary Care Associates of CaliforniaProspect Medical GroupOptum/PCAMGGreater Tri-Cities IPA (with some minimal changes)If you are currently enrolled in the SCAN health plan, you should receive a letter in the mail from SCAN and a separate letter from SDCERS regarding these changes. You will also find the most up-to-date Primary Care Physician listings on the SCAN Health Plan website at www.scanhealthplan.com. If you choose to remain in the SCAN health plan for plan year 2024 and your current provider is associated with Scripps Clinic or Scripps Coastal, you will need to select a new provider. Alternatively, you can choose to enroll in a different City-sponsored Medicare plan.
For assistance with plan comparisons and help making smart decisions when choosing providers, please remember to utilize the City’s free retiree health resource, CareCounsel. You can reach CareCounsel at 888-227-3334 or visit their website at www.carecounsel.com.
If you have any questions, you can contact SDCERS’ Call Center at (619) 525-3600, open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. PST. However, as this is a significant change to retiree health and open enrollment is about to begin, we anticipate a higher than usual call volume over the next several months. If your question is not urgent, we encourage you to submit your request electronically via the Contact Us page. SDCERS staff will generally respond to electronic inquiries within one business day.
If you need to come into our physical offices for any reason related to retiree health, please remember to come in on a Tuesday or Thursday and we recommend calling ahead of time to ensure an appropriate staff member will be available to assist you.
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At the September Board meeting, SDCERS reported a net return of 5.2% for Fiscal Year 2023. As of June 30, 2023, the trust fund’s assets totaled approximately $10.6 billion. SDCERS’ annualized rate of return over the past 10 years is 7.7%, and its return since inception is 8.7%.
SDCERS’ net return for Fiscal Year 2023 of 5.2% was less than its assumed rate of return (6.5%), and also below the policy benchmark, which posted a 7.6% return for the year. The policy benchmark is a measure of how the Total Fund would have performed if the actively managed public portions of the portfolio had been completely passively invested in index funds, and if the private portions of the portfolio achieved stated benchmark returns. Allocations away from the policy benchmark, in other words, relative over- and underweights to specific asset classes, as well as selection effects within specific asset classes, hurt SDCERS’ relative returns. Specifically, SDCERS did not meet its benchmark for FY 2023 primarily due to the Fund’s overweight to Private Equity, which underperformed other asset classes on a relative basis, and underperformance of the Opportunity Fund investments. The Opportunity Fund underperformed its benchmark by 13.9%, and the majority of this underperformance is explained by the difference between the policy benchmark return, which is a mix of global equity and fixed income, and the strategy specific benchmark returns.
As of June 30, 2023, SDCERS benched the performance of the Opportunity Fund to a mix of 78% global stocks and 22% U.S. Fixed Income. This mix was used to represent the opportunity cost of allocating assets to the Opportunity Fund. Going forward, the Opportunity Fund will be benchmarked to indices that more closely align with the type of investments held, which should control tracking error to the policy benchmark. Looking at the performance of the Opportunity Fund against the trend following benchmark, the Managed Futures allocation underperformed as a result of trend reversals in fixed income markets in the first quarter of 2023. SDCERS’ trend-following managers were short in fixed income when rates rallied on the heels of the regional banking crisis, hurting relative returns.
While Private Equity enjoyed fantastic returns in 2021 and 2022, the asset class was challenged in late 2022 and into 2023 as a result of the Fed’s interest rate hiking cycle, which created a less favorable environment for Initial Public Offerings amidst higher borrowing costs. SDCERS’ overweight to private equity hurt returns from both an allocation and selection effect, as private equity as an asset class underperformed, and also from a selection effect, as private equity holdings within SDCERS’ portfolio underperformed the private equity benchmark by 2.9% due to valuation write-downs.
Performance can also be measured in comparison to returns of other public pension plans, though it is important to remember that different plans have a variety of circumstances impacting their asset allocations and, in turn, their return targets. SDCERS compares very favorably against its peers over longer time periods – posting returns in the upper second quartile of the universe over rolling 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods ending June 30, 2023. Over the past 20 years, SDCERS’ return is in the top 4% of similarly-sized public pension plans. SDCERS’ risk-adjusted return, which takes into account reward for risk undertaken, is in the top quartile compared to similarly-sized public pension plans over the past 3, 5, and 10 years.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled September 2023 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the September 2023 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
September 7th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
September 8th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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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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CalPERS and CalSTRS have informed its retired members and beneficiaries that their personal information may have been involved in a data breach. Neither CalPERS nor CalSTRS’ own information systems were compromised. However, PBI Research Services/Berwyn Group, a third-party vendor that both retirement systems contracted with to identify member deaths, used the file transfer application MOVEit, which was the subject of the breach. The app’s vulnerability allowed certain personally identifiable information, such as names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, to be downloaded by an unauthorized party. Overall, it has been reported that approximately 769,000 retired CalPERS members and 415,000 CalSTRS members and beneficiaries were affected.
As soon as the data breach was reported, SDCERS staff immediately ensured that our own systems remain secure, and that our contracted vendors were not affected by this worldwide data security incident. Although SDCERS was not impacted by this incident, members who are also members of CalPERS may be affected. CalPERS notified those who were affected via mail, but SDCERS does not have any specific information about the identities of those individuals. Therefore, in an effort to continue protecting your private information and SDCERS account details, we have internally flagged the accounts of all SDCERS retirees who have requested reciprocity with CalPERS. If a member with a flagged account contacts SDCERS, our Call Center has been instructed to be extra vigilant when confirming the identity of the caller before releasing any information. If the caller is unable to satisfactorily answer the security questions, the call will be escalated to a supervisor.
To reiterate, SDCERS was not impacted by this cybersecurity incident and your private information remains secure. Further, SDCERS maintains effective safeguards to prevent these types of security breaches. In fact, SDCERS’ network recently underwent an annual penetration test, which includes a scan of all systems and devices connected to our network to identify security vulnerabilities. The results were very positive and the testing vendor stated, “the SDCERS network was observed as extremely secure.” This test was in addition to our regular Department of Homeland Security scans, internal scans, WhiteHat weekly external penetration testing, and audits performed by our external and internal auditors.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled July 2023 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the July 2023 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
July 12th – Audit Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
July 13th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
July 14th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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As SDCERS staff teleworks for a portion of each week, there may not always be a retiree health staff member available in the office to assist members in person. Moving forward, if you would like to speak with a retiree health staff member in person, you must travel to SDCERS’ downtown offices on a Tuesday or Thursday (not including holidays) between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. You are encouraged to call ahead to confirm availability of a retiree health staff member, especially if you are requesting to have your documents reviewed. SDCERS’ Call Center is open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon, and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. You can also reach SDCERS’ retiree health staff via email, at health@sdcers.org.
Also, if you have a retiree health reimbursement plan through your City employment, your annual reimbursement allowance may have changed for fiscal year 2024. See this chart for updated City retiree health reimbursement allowances, which vary depending on your specific health reimbursement plan.
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As SDCERS staff teleworks for a portion of each week, there may not always be a retiree health staff member available in the office to assist members in person. Moving forward, if you would like to speak with a retiree health staff member in person, you must travel to SDCERS’ downtown offices on a Tuesday or Thursday (not including holidays) between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. You are encouraged to call ahead to confirm availability of a retiree health staff member, especially if you are requesting to have your documents reviewed. SDCERS’ Call Center is open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon, and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. You can also reach SDCERS’ retiree health staff via email, at health@sdcers.org.
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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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At its May 12, 2023 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 beginning with their July 2023 payment. Your pension benefit will receive a COLA for Fiscal Year 2024 if your retirement or DROP entry date is on or before June 30, 2023.
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, 2021 and December 31, 2022 was 6.5% (rounded to the nearest 1/10th of a percent). This means that everyone who is retired or participating in DROP as of June 30, 2023 will receive the maximum 2% COLA increase to their pension benefit, and bank the additional 4.5%.
This means that those who receive the fiscal year 2024 COLA and add the additional 4.5% to their COLA banks are guaranteed to receive a 2% COLA in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, 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 – but please remember that we have absolutely no way of predicting what the CPI’s published COLA will be in future years, and this is therefore very much a hypothetical example:
If Sam Diego retires or enters DROP in June of 2023 and his initial monthly pension benefit is $5,000:
You can see how the 4.5% 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 2025-2030 was always between 1.3% 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, 2023 – 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 this article discussing considerations when deciding upon a DROP entry date). However, as this is the second 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, 2023. (Note: You must enter DROP at the beginning of a pay period – please consult your payroll specialist to confirm your pay period start dates in June.)
If you are eligible to receive a fiscal year 2024 COLA, the applicable increase will be reflected in your July 2023 pension payment.
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At today's meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration unanimously approved Board President Paul Kaufmann's recommendation for Lisa Marie Harris to continue her position as Board Vice President for her second consecutive term.
Congratulations to our Board Vice President! You can see all of the SDCERS Board Members’ biographies, including Lisa Marie's, on this page.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled May 2023 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely (except as specified below) – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the May 2023 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
May 11th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
May 12th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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At the March 10th meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration approved the June 30, 2022 actuarial valuations for its three plan sponsors. These valuations determine each plan sponsor’s Fiscal Year 2024 Actuarially Determined Contribution (“ADC”), which are expected to be paid on July 1, 2023.
The City’s ADC for Fiscal Year 2024, is $448.1 million. The valuation is a snapshot in time on June 30, 2022; the City’s active employees affected by Proposition B who retroactively joined the system on July 9, 2022 were not included in the valuation results. However, the SDCERS Board of Administration voted to include the City’s FY24 Normal Costs and the first year of the 20-year amortization of the liability shortfall for these same 3,200 members in the ADC due July 1, 2023.
The Port’s Fiscal Year 2024 ADC is $19.2 million, and the Airport’s is $4.96 million.
You can review all three June 30, 2022 valuations, as well as past years’ actuarial valuation reports, here.
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SDCERS’ Board of Administration unanimously voted for Paul Kaufmann to continue his position as Board President for his second consecutive one-year term. Paul’s second term will begin with the May 2023 meeting, at which time he will present his choice for Vice President.
Congratulations to our re-elected Board President! You can see all of the SDCERS Board Members’ biographies, including Paul’s, on this page.
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On February 28th, voting concluded in the election for SDCERS' Retiree Member seat. All retired Members (City, Port, and Airport) were eligible to vote in this election. Thank you to all who participated in these elections, and especially to both candidates for volunteering their time.
The candidate who received the majority of votes for the Retiree Board Member seat was B.Chris Brewster. The full Board of Administration recertified the election results at today’s meeting. Chris will attend his first Board meeting as a member of the Board on May 12, 2023. Elected members serve a four-year term before a new election must be held, which means Chris’ term will end March 31, 2027.
Congratulations to our newest elected Board Member and thank you in advance for your voluntary service on SDCERS’ Board of Administration!
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled March 2023 Board and Committee meetings in our usual Board Meeting Room on the 3rd floor of our downtown office building – located at 401 West A Street, Suite 300.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the March 2023 meetings here.
However, as always, you can watch the Business & Governance Committee and/or Board of Administration meeting live by going to the agendas page (linked above) at the start time of the meeting and clicking the “Live Media” button next to the corresponding meeting, which will display once the meeting begins.
Meeting Dates
March 8th – Audit Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
March 9th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting at 12:30 p.m. PST
March 10th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment by attending the relevant meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins.
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Voting opens today for the Retiree Board Member election – if you are an SDCERS retiree, you should receive a ballot letter in the mail. This letter contains your unique validation number that you will need in order to cast your vote, so don’t throw your letter away until you have voted!
All votes must be cast by 5:00 p.m. PST on February 28th.
The nominees in this election are Chris Brewster and John Hemmerling. Each candidate’s statement is contained in your ballot letter and also on the online voting platform. Votes may be cast by phone by calling 1-855-812-8049, or online at https://vote.escvote.com/SDCERS – specific information about the voting process is contained in your election ballot letter. Again, you will need your unique validation number contained in your ballot letter in order to cast your vote.
If you lost your letter or need help voting, please contact the Election Services Helpdesk at SDCERSHelp@electionservicescorp.com or by calling 1-866-720-4357, open on regular business days from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. PST. (Note: Email is generally the quickest way to get your questions answered.)
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Nominations for the Active Safety Police and Retiree Board Member seats concluded at 5:00 p.m. PST on January 17th. In order for a nominee to be eligible to proceed in these elections, they needed to have at least 10 signatures on their nomination petition by the deadline.
Current Active Safety Police Board Member, Lou Maggi, was the sole nominee for his seat. Since he was the sole nominee, there is no need for an election and Lou will continue his Board service through March 2027. Congratulations Lou!
However, we have two eligible nominees running for the Retiree Board Member seat: Bartlett (Chris) Brewster and John C. Hemmerling. Therefore, we will be proceeding with this election. All retirees will be mailed an election ballot on February 10, 2023 – please do not throw away your letter until after you have voted, as it contains a unique validation code that you will need to cast your vote! Voting will open on February 14th, and all votes must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. PST on February 28, 2023. Votes may be cast by phone or online – specific information about the voting process is contained in your election ballot letter and will also be posted on the front page of SDCERS’ website once voting begins.
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All IRS Form 1099-R’s for tax year 2022 were mailed on January 11th. This means all SDCERS retirees and beneficiaries who received a payment from SDCERS in calendar year 2022 should be receiving their 2022 1099-R forms via U.S. mail over the next couple of weeks. To access your 1099-R form sooner, please log in to your Member Portal account, click on “Tax Reporting” on the left, and select “2022 1099R” to download an electronic copy. You can also update your tax withholding preferences on your Member Portal by clicking on “Tax Withholding.” This guide explains how to update your tax withholding preferences.
For a detailed explanation of the pertinent information in your 1099-R, as well as answers to frequently asked questions regarding this tax form, please review our 1099-R Fact Sheet. If you have additional questions, please contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600 or submit your questions electronically via our Contact Us web form.
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SDCERS’ IT Department is starting off the New Year with new leadership – please join us in welcoming Michelle Wegner-Maleki as our new Chief Information Officer! Michelle has actually served SDCERS since 2007, first as the IT Application Services Manager and now as Chief Information Officer (“CIO”).
As the CIO, she is responsible for managing all aspects of the SDCERS’ information technology functions, including network services, business application, communication services, business resumption, and project management services. Prior to joining SDCERS, Michelle worked for the City of San Diego since 1997, supporting the application environment across multiple City departments. Michelle is a native to San Diego and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at San Diego State University. She also holds a certificate of Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute.
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As of today, SDCERS’ physical offices are again open to the public – but wait, there’s more! We are now officially located on the 8th floor of the same building, so if you visit us in person, please be sure to take the correct set of elevators that go to the 8th floor (there are multiple banks of elevators, the signs above each set specify which floors those elevators go to.) See this page for directions to our building.
Also, if you park in the building’s underground parking garage, note that you will need to take the elevators to the Lobby Level first, and then cross the lobby to the elevators that go to the 8th floor. Don’t forget to bring your parking ticket with you for validation!
Lastly, please be sure to use the following address if you mail any documents to SDCERS moving forward:
401 West A StreetSuite 800
San Diego, CA 92101
(Don’t forget that you can always send documents via fax to (619) 595-0513, or as a PDF attachment via email to sdcers@sdcers.org.)
If you have any questions or if you find yourself a little lost while trying to find us, please contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600, open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. (PST).
Thank you and happy New Year!
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SDCERS’ Board of Administration consists of 5 elected members, each of whom serve a four-year term before elections are held once again. The four-year terms for SDCERS’ active safety police Board Member, Lou Maggi, and retiree Board Member, Charlie Hogquist, are ending March 31, 2023. Therefore, SDCERS has begun the elections to fill these seats.
Nominations are open for these elections and all nominations and petition signatures must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. (PST) on January 17, 2023. All active City Safety Police Members and City retirees are eligible to run for the appropriate seat and have been mailed a letter, which contains a unique validation number and instructions explaining how to self-nominate and/or sign a nominee’s petition. Please retain this letter, as you will need your unique validation number in order to submit a nomination or sign an existing nominee's petition. If you are an active City Safety Police Member or City retiree interested in serving on SDCERS’ Board, please be sure to self-nominate by the deadline; all other members in these two categories, please be sure to sign the nomination petition(s) of any candidate(s) you support!
If you are in either of these membership categories and have not received your nominations letter by January 2, 2023; if you lost your letter; or if you have any questions about the nomination process, please email SDCERShelp@electionservicescorp.com or call 1-866-720-4357, Monday – Friday, 6:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. PST. All nominations and signatures must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. PST on January 17, 2023. At that time, if there is only one nominee for each category with at least 10 petition signatures (the minimum requirement to move forward), an election will not be necessary. If there are competing nominations, then we will proceed with the election(s) and all members who are eligible to vote will receive a letter with further instructions.
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SDCERS is proud to announce it has received the Municipal Information System Association of California (MISAC) Quality Information Technology Practices Award for the fifth year in a row. MISAC is a collaborative organization of California local government IT professionals with the goal of promoting leadership, information sharing, and access to resources to enhance local government services and effectiveness. Membership includes cities, towns, public safety, special districts, and other local governmental agencies/districts.
MISAC's Quality IT Practices program is meant to document and acknowledgement MISAC agencies that are following IT best practices. Applicants are required to submit a detailed questionnaire and supporting material. Agency’s strengths are benchmarked to System Administration, Audit, Network, and Security (SANS) Institute standards. The SANS Institute is a cooperative research and education organization of security practitioners from varied worldwide organizations, corporations, and universities working together to help the global information security community.
Receiving MISAC Quality IT Practices Award is an honor and tribute to the dedication and performance of SDCERS’ IT staff and contractors.
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IMPORTANT: If you continue to experience the "Site Offline for Maintenance" page when attempting to access the Member Portal, please clear your browser's cache and try again.
If you log in to your SDCERS Member Portal account, you may notice it looks a little different – don’t worry, you’re not being tricked or phished! SDCERS’ IT and Member Services staff have been working diligently over the last few months to perform an upgrade of SDCERS’ internal systems and the Member Portal. Part of this upgrade included a slightly different look for the Portal:
However, all of the same functions are available. Active members can still monitor their contribution account, run different retirement scenarios with the benefit estimate calculator, add and remove beneficiaries, apply for retirement, and more. Retirees can still access 1099’s and pay statements, as well as make updates to their tax withholding preferences, beneficiary designations, direct deposit, and contact information.
If you are perusing your account and come across any issues or have any questions about what you see, please don’t hesitate to send us a message about it via our Contact Us page, or call us at (619) 525-3600 on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. – noon and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. (PST).
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SDCERS will be ending 2022 with a big move – literally! During the last half of December, SDCERS staff will be packing up their offices on the 4th floor of SDCERS’ downtown office building and relocating to the 8th floor. This means a few things for our members:While we are in the process of moving, our physical offices will be closed – if you have an in-person counseling appointment scheduled during this time period, you will be given the option to either keep your appointment but attend telephonically, or reschedule the appointment to take place in-person after we have settled into our new offices.
However, during the move, the Call Center will remain open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (PST). You can also send us a message via our Contact Us page and we will respond within three business days.
(Note: SDCERS will be fully closed on December 26, 2022 and January 2, 2023 in observance of the Christmas holiday and New Year’s Day.)Starting in January 2023, please be sure to use the following address if you are mailing any documents to SDCERS:
401 West A StreetSuite 800
San Diego, CA 92101
(Don’t forget that you can always send documents via fax to (619) 595-0513, or as a PDF attachment via email to sdcers@sdcers.org!)If you visit our downtown offices after the beginning of the new year, make sure you take the correct elevator to the 8th floor, instead of the 4th. Please pay attention to the signs above the different sets of elevators and be sure to take one that goes to the 8th floor!
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If you are a City retiree currently receiving health reimbursements for Medicare Part B premiums, you should have recently received a letter in the mail from SDCERS. The standard Medicare Part B premiums are decreasing from $170.10 to $164.90 per month, beginning in January 2023. Please submit the 2023 Benefit Verification Letter to SDCERS, confirming the changes to your Medicare premium.
To obtain your 2023 Benefit Verification Letter, visit www.ssa.gov, and from the homepage sign in or sign up for a personal “my Social Security” account. Once you’ve accessed your account, follow the instructions to access your Benefit Verification Letter. You can also call your local Social Security office.
We are anticipating a large number of submissions this year due to the premium change. If you submit all of the proper paperwork to SDCERS by January 10, 2023, we will attempt to have the new premium amount reflected on your January 2023 pension benefit payment. If your paperwork is received after this date or we were unable to process your request timely, then the adjusted reimbursement amount will be included in the following payroll cycle once all required documentation is received.
You may submit your 2023 Benefit Verification Letter to SDCERS in the following ways:Fax a copy to: (858) 581-5314Mail a copy to: 401 West A Street, Suite 400, San Diego, CA 92101 Attn: HealthE-mail a scanned copy to: health@sdcers.org IMPORTANT: If you submit your Benefit Verification Letter (and/or any other health-related paperwork) via email, please be sure any attachments are in PDF format only. You should receive an automated confirmation email within 24 hours of your email submission; however, if you do not receive this confirmation email, it does not mean we didn’t receive your email. First, please check your spam or junk folder to see if the confirmation email ended up there.
Please refrain from calling us to confirm that your Benefit Verification Letter has been received, as the staff who answer the phones are also processing the documents, and additional phone calls may cause delays. If you believe you provided us with timely documentation, but are not reimbursed the increased amount in your January 2023 pension payment, then please contact our Retiree Health Team at (619) 525-3627 or health@sdcers.org in February.
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For the fifth 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 Program. The system must provide a comprehensive benefit program including service retirement benefits, in-service death benefits, disability benefits, vesting, and provisions for granting a cost-of-living adjustment.Actuarial. An Actuarial Valuation must be completed at least every two years using generally recognized and accepted actuarial principles and practices.Audit. The system must obtain an unqualified opinion from an independent audit conducted in accordance with government auditing standards generally accepted in the United States.Investments. The system must follow written investment policies and written fiduciary standards and the system must obtain an annual investment performance evaluation from an outside investment review entity.Communications. Members must be provided a handbook or summary plan description, regular updates to the documents, and an annual benefit statement. Meetings of the governing board of the system are conducted at least quarterly with adequate public notice. 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 18+ million employees of state and local governments.
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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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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled November 16, 2022 Audit Committee meeting; however, due to ongoing construction, this meeting cannot be held in our usual Board Meeting Room at our downtown offices. Instead, the meeting will be held at the Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel in the Sunset Conference Room – see further details below.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not currently being held remotely – Audit Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the November 16, 2022 Audit Committee meeting here.
Meeting Location & Parking
SDCERS’ usual Board Meeting Room remains under construction. Therefore, the upcoming Audit Committee meeting will be held in the Sunset Conference Room at the Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel, located at 2051 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92106. Parking is complimentary, either at the hotel or across the street.
Meeting Date
November 16th – Audit Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment, either by attending the meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins, or by submitting a written statement ahead of time. To request a written statement to be read aloud at the meeting, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Please include your contact information in your request. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the meeting.
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At its November 4, 2022 meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration approved payment of the Annual Supplemental Benefit for eligible retirees and continuance beneficiaries. The Annual Supplemental Benefit is paid in years when the fund’s investment earnings are sufficient to qualify, according to a set formula defined in the plan documents.
In addition, the Corbett Settlement Increase (“Corbett benefit”) is paid to eligible retirees and continuance beneficiaries in years that the Annual Supplemental Benefit is paid. If you are eligible for one or both of these benefits, payment will be included in your November 2022 monthly pension benefit.
The eligibility requirements for the Annual Supplemental Benefit and Corbett benefit are described in our FAQs under “Annual Supplemental Benefit, Corbett, COLA, COL Annuity.” Here, you will also find a description of how these benefits are calculated.
In addition to the requirements outlined in the FAQ’s, in order to be eligible for the 2022 Annual Supplemental Benefit, a retiree or continuance beneficiary must have been (1) alive, and (2) eligible to receive a monthly pension benefit on October 1, 2022. If an eligible retiree died on or after October 1, 2022, the retiree’s continuance beneficiary is not eligible for their own Annual Supplemental Benefit this year. In this case, the retiree’s Annual Supplemental Benefit payment will be included in the $2,000 Retiree Death Benefit and Other Payable Monies, which is paid to the beneficiary(ies) designated to receive that death benefit.
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At today’s meeting, SDCERS’ Board of Administration voted to approve staff’s recommended DROP account and DROP annuity interest rates for the next calendar year – meaning these rates will be effective January 1, 2023. The DROP account rate is the interest rate used by SDCERS while a Member is in DROP and the DROP Annuity rate is the interest rate used by SDCERS to annuitize the DROP monies of a Member who has exited DROP and retired. These rates are calculated annually using publicly available indexes as of September 30th of each year. (See Board Rule 6.10(c) and 6.40(b), and the SDCERS CEO’s memorandum presented at the January 2022 Board meeting for more information about how these rates are calculated.)
Therefore, effective January 1, 2023, the annual DROP account interest rate (compounded quarterly) will increase significantly to 2.5%, compared to the current rate of 0.8%. This interest rate will be compounded quarterly and applied to all active DROP participants’ accounts as long as the participant is actively employed by the City of San Diego, San Diego Unified Port District, or the San Diego Regional Airport Authority on the last day of each quarter. This rate is subject to change annually, which means a DROP participant’s account may receive a different interest rate every year during their participation period.
The DROP annuity interest rate will increase to 2.9%, compared to the current rate of 2.1%. This interest rate will be applied to the funds remaining in a DROP retiree’s account when they exit DROP, if the retiree chooses to annuitize all or part of their DROP account, and it will be factored into the calculation of their monthly DROP annuity. Please note that the retiree’s DROP exit date must be during calendar year 2023 in order for the 2.9% annuity factor to apply.
Unlike the DROP account interest rate, the DROP annuity rate will not change for an individual member – the rate that is in effect when a member exits DROP is the rate that will be applied to their annuity, regardless of whether or not the DROP annuity rate changes in future years. Therefore, when you are getting close to your DROP retirement date, your decision to exit DROP before or after the New Year may be affected by the Board’s decision to increase or decrease the DROP annuity interest rate. However, if you do not plan to annuitize your DROP account upon exiting DROP, then the DROP annuity rate changes will not affect you. Click here to review your options regarding how you can receive the funds in your DROP account when you exit DROP.
Please attend a DROP Entry webinar if you are planning to enter DROP soon! The November DROP entry webinar is currently full; however, there will be another in December that has not yet been scheduled. If you are within 3 months of your DROP entry date and are unable to register for either the November or December webinars, please contact SDCERS and let us know.
Please attend a DROP Exit webinar if you are nearing your target DROP exit date! The next DROP exit webinar will be November 17th from noon – 1:30 p.m., and you can register using the following link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7587965465274533643. (Note: These webinars tend to fill up fast – there will be another DROP exit webinar in December, but it has not yet been scheduled. If you are within 3 months of your DROP exit and are unable to register for either the November or December webinars, please contact SDCERS and let us know.)
If you are considering entering or exiting DROP soon, you must begin the process by first going to your Member Portal account and clicking on either “Online Applications” or “DROP Retirement Application” (whichever is applicable to you) from the left menu, under Tools. Review this information, make your selections, and submit the initial application online. Once received, you will be contacted by an SDCERS staff member to schedule your personal counseling appointment. At your appointment, you can ask questions and make any changes you’d like to your application. Your electronic application is not final and you have not officially scheduled your DROP entry or exit date until you’ve submitted your signed application signature page, which will be given to you by your retirement counselor during or after your appointment.
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This year, health open enrollment for City of San Diego retirees will run from November 1st through November 30th. The calendar year 2023 City retiree health booklets have been mailed out to all eligible City retirees and beneficiaries, and should hit mailboxes this week. In the meantime, you can download an electronic version of the booklet here. You can also download and complete enrollment forms by visiting the City Retiree Health page. After you’ve completed an enrollment (or disenrollment) form, you must send it to SDCERS by November 30th – we prefer you scan your forms and email them as a PDF attachment to health@sdcers.org, but you may also fax them to (858) 581-5314, or mail them to our offices at:
SDCERS – Health Division
401 West A Street, Suite 400
San Diego, CA 92101
As always, if you do not wish to make any changes to your current healthcare coverage, you do not need to take any action during open enrollment and your coverage will remain the same. There are no new plans this year and no significant changes to existing plans in terms of coverage.
SDCERS will not be holding in-person open enrollment events. Instead, SDCERS will participate in a virtual health fair hosted by SDPEBA (San Diego Public Employee Benefit Association), which will be held on November 2nd from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (PST). You can register for SDPEBA’s virtual health fair at https://go.sdpeba.org/retireeOE/.
We anticipate that the plan providers will once again record the presentations they would have given at SDCERS’ live open enrollment events. For the providers that choose to do so, you will be able to access their videos on our website – this article and SDCERS’ Facebook page will be updated with more information once we receive the video presentations.
If you are comparing different plans and trying to decide which is best for you, don’t forget about CareCounsel! CareCounsel Member Care Specialists are available for your healthcare inquiries and concerns. You can call them at (888) 227-3334 or e-mail staff@carecounsel.com Monday – Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. CareCounsel also provides helpful videos on their website that may answer your questions about Medicare, here: https://carecounsel.com/medicare.html.
SDCERS’ Call Center is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., at (619) 525-3600 and (800) 774-4977. Please be patient with our hard-working staff; we are working with limited resources and call wait times may be longer than usual due to an expected increase in health-related calls.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled November 2022 Board and Committee meetings; however, due to ongoing construction, the meetings cannot be held in our usual Board Meeting Room at our downtown office building. Instead, the meetings will be held at University Club Atop Symphony Towers – see further details below.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not held remotely – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the November 2022 meetings here.
Meeting Location
SDCERS’ usual Board Meeting Room remains under construction. Therefore, the November meetings will be held at the University Club Atop Symphony Towers in the Laureate Ballroom (Suite #3400), located at 750 B Street, San Diego, CA 92101.
Meeting Dates
November 3rd – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting 12:30 p.m. PST
November 4th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment, either by attending the meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins, or by submitting a written statement ahead of time. To request a written statement to be read aloud at a meeting, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the corresponding meeting. Please include the following information in your request: Your contact information and the meeting during which you would like your comment to be read aloud. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the appropriate 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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City Members hired before July 1, 2005; Port Members hired before October 1, 2005; and Airport Members hired before October 2, 2006 have the option to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (“DROP”) when they become age and service eligible to retire. You can review our DROP Fact Sheet for more detailed information about this program, but one important aspect of DROP is that when a member enters, they generally must exit and fully retire within five years of their DROP entry date (exception for City firefighters). Many DROP participants elect to stay in DROP and continue working for their plan sponsor for the full five-year period, while many others only stay in for a fraction of that time – it is entirely up to each member if they want to exit DROP early based on their personal circumstances.
That being said, here are a few things to consider before you decide when to enter (and possibly when to exit) DROP, not in any particular order:COLA – The annual cost of living adjustment (“COLA”) applies every July to the monthly pension benefit of every DROP participant who entered DROP by the previous June 30th. The COLA can increase your pension benefit up to 2% in any given year. Therefore, some members intentionally choose to enter DROP on or before June 30th so that their benefit receives the COLA immediately.Note: The Board approves the COLA at its May meeting each year, so you will know what the COLA will be more than a month in advance. However, keep in mind you must enter DROP at the beginning of a pay period, which may not be exactly on June 30th – plan ahead to schedule your DROP entry date accordingly; if you decide you want to enter DROP before July 1st of a given year in order to receive the COLA in July, we recommend submitting your online DROP entry application by early May, so we can schedule your counseling appointment in May or the beginning of June. Don’t procrastinate until the end of June, or you may risk being unable to enter DROP before July! Annual Member Contribution Account Interest – On the flip side, if you enter DROP after June 30th of a given year, your member contribution account receives the annual compounded interest (currently 6.5%), which only applies to members who are not retired or in DROP as of July 1st. While the interested added to your contribution account does not increase your base pension benefit, it will slightly increase your Cost of Living Annuity (“COL Annuity”) and Surviving Spouse Annuity (only applicable if you choose the Maximum Benefit (Single) option). However, this increase is rarely greater than the increase due to the COLA would be, but still something to keep in mind!DROP Account Interest – While you are participating in DROP, your DROP account will receive quarterly compounded interest at whatever the current rate is in effect on the last day of each quarter (DROP interest rates are subject to change each year – new rates are generally announced at the November Board meeting and go into effect the following January 1st).
However, you must be working and participating in DROP on the last day of the quarter in order to receive interest for that quarter, so this is something to consider before deciding when to exit DROP. This also matters when deciding on your DROP entry date because if you enter DROP towards the end of a quarter and stay in for the full five years, you will not receive interest for the last quarter of your DROP participation period (unless you are a firefighter and able to extend your DROP period through the end of the quarter), thereby likely missing out on the last quarter interest payment to your DROP account. For example, if you enter DROP on June 15th and stay in for the full five years, your last day of work must be on June 14th five years later; therefore, your DROP account would not receive interest for the 2nd quarter of that year, since you wouldn’t be working on June 30th.Final Compensation – For those eligible to enter DROP, the “Final Compensation” used to calculate your pension benefit is your highest pensionable salary averaged over 12 consecutive months. If you recently received a salary increase, especially a significant one, you may want to continue working and receiving that higher pay for a while before you enter DROP, in order for the higher salary to be factored into your pension benefit calculation – if you enter DROP shortly after receiving a raise, it won’t significantly increase your pension benefit.
Also, keep in mind that if you have reciprocity with another California public retirement system, the Final Compensation that SDCERS reports to the reciprocal system will be your Final Compensation as of your DROP entry date, not your DROP exit date. This means that even if you receive a salary increase while you are participating in DROP, it will not affect your pension benefit either from SDCERS or the reciprocal system.Birthday – Your retirement factor, another element of your pension benefit formula, is determined based on your plan tier and age at DROP entry, prorated in quarterly increments. When deciding on your DROP entry date, consider your exact age – for example, if your plan tier’s retirement factor increases between 60 and 61, and you enter DROP when you are 60 years and 7 months old, the factor used in your benefit calculation will be slightly higher than what would be used if you retired at 60 years and 5 months old. Therefore, if your tentative DROP entry date is close to your next quarter age, you may want to push your entry date a few weeks so your pension benefit calculation will use that slightly higher retirement factor.DROP Annuity Interest Rate – Finally, the last consideration is only relevant if you are interested in taking the DROP annuity after you exit. (See this article discussing your options regarding how you'd like to receive your DROP account when you exit.) Like the DROP account rate, the DROP annuity rate is subject to change each year, with new rates typically announced at the November Board meeting, which go into effect the following January 1st. Unlike the DROP account rate, your DROP annuity calculation is locked in at whatever the current DROP annuity rate is in effect on the day that you exit DROP. Therefore, in your last year of DROP, if the Board announces in November that the DROP annuity rate is going to decrease in January, you may want to exit by the end of December so your annuity is calculated before the rate goes down. (In this case, don’t forget that your DROP account would not receive 4th quarter interest.) If the annuity rate is going to increase in January, then you may want to wait until after December 31st to exit, so your DROP annuity is calculated at the higher rate.
However, in order to take advantage of the latter situation, you must have the flexibility to do so based on your DROP entry date – for instance, if you entered DROP towards the end of a calendar year and you stay in for the full five-year period, then you will not be able to wait until the following January to exit, even if the annuity rate is going to increase.All of these considerations are important, but must be balanced by your personal circumstances and desires. As you can see, it’s impossible to take advantage of every single factor listed above, because many of them work against each other – for example, if you enter DROP in June, you set yourself up to receive the COLA immediately, but you are sacrificing the 2nd quarter DROP account interest payment in your last year of DROP. If you wait until July to enter, your COL Annuity and Surviving Spouse Annuity (if applicable) will increase, but you won’t receive the COLA until the following July. So on and so forth. If you have any questions about the considerations described above, please contact SDCERS via our Contact Us page or by calling (619) 525-3600 on regular business days between 9:00 a.m. and noon, or 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (PST).
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At its September Board meeting, SDCERS reported a net return of -1.7% for Fiscal Year 2022. As of June 30, 2022, the trust fund’s assets totaled just over $10.0 billion – a net year over year decrease of approximately $328 million. SDCERS’ annualized rate of return over the past 10 years is 8.5%, and its return since inception is 8.8%.
Although SDCERS’ net return for Fiscal Year 2022 was negative, it significantly outperformed its benchmark, which posted a -5.7% return for the year. The benchmark is a measure of how the total fund would have performed if it had been completely invested in index funds. SDCERS surpassed its benchmark due to the performance of its active managers. In particular, SDCERS’ managed futures allocation had a strong performance over the past year. The managed futures allocation, which seeks to benefit from either upwards or downwards trends in stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies, was added to the fund in 2019 to add diversification to the plan and act as a buffer in periods of market stress.
Performance can also be measured in comparison to other public pension plans, although it is important to remember that different plans have a variety of sizes, circumstances, and funding statuses, all of which impact their asset allocations and, in turn, their return targets. This past fiscal year, SDCERS’ total fund net return was in the top 4% compared to other similarly-sized plans. Over longer time periods, SDCERS stacks up very well against its peers – posting top quartile returns over rolling 3-, 5-, 10- and 20-year periods ending June 30, 2022.
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If you have not already done so, please register your account on the secure SDCERS Member Portal! This message is for all SDCERS Members, but particularly for City employees affected by Proposition B, who joined the system as of July 9, 2022 and are now able to register.
Please note that non-retired members will need to know the exact amount of your last SDCERS member contribution in order to complete registration – you can find this amount on your most recent paycheck, under “Pre-Tax Deductions.” Members who are actively participating in DROP will need to know the amount of their last DROP contribution, and retired members will need to know the exact amount of their last pension payment.
Also, we recommend you use a personal email address for registration, rather than your work email address – this is because you will lose access to your work email address when you terminate employment with your plan sponsor and/or retire, but you will still need access to your Member Portal account.
Member Portal Highlights
Here are the most important aspects of your Member Portal as an active Member:Update Beneficiary Designations – please do this immediately! In the event of your untimely death, SDCERS needs to know to whom you would like us to pay your applicable death benefits. You can name multiple beneficiaries, as well as primary and alternate beneficiaries, and you can add or remove beneficiaries at any time via your Member Portal account. Please review our Death Benefits Fact Sheet for more information.Reciprocity Request – if you would have been able to establish reciprocity when you were initially hired by the City, had you immediately began participating in SDCERS, you can now begin the process to establish reciprocity via your Member Portal. Once reciprocity has been accepted or denied, you will receive a letter stating the outcome – please note that the process to establish reciprocity may take several months. You can review our Reciprocity & Blended Benefits Fact Sheet for more information.Benefit Estimate Calculator – a very important tool in retirement planning, you can use this calculator to input hypothetical retirement scenarios and get an idea of what your future pension benefit might look like under different sets of circumstances. Please take a look at our Benefit Estimate Calculator Fact Sheet for guidance when generating an estimate.Monitor Your Individual SDCERS Contribution Account – if you are a Prop B employee, your SPSP-H funds were transferred to your SDCERS account several weeks ago. You can view your SDCERS contribution account via the Portal and watch it grow as you continue to add contributions and as interest accrues every July 1st.Submit Purchase of Service Credit Requests – you may be eligible to purchase certain periods of time where you were not contributing to SDCERS. You can submit a Service Purchase Request via your Member Portal and SDCERS will send you a list of all (if any) periods of time you are eligible to purchase, as well as how much each period of time costs. Please review our Purchase of Service Credit Fact Sheet for more information.Apply for Retirement – when you are within six months of being both age and service eligible to retire, you will begin the retirement process by submitting an online application in your Member Portal.If you have any questions or encounter a problem when trying to register, please contact SDCERS at (619) 525-3600, open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Alternatively, you can send us an electronic message via our Contact Us page.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled September 2022 Board and Committee meetings; however, due to ongoing construction, the meetings cannot be held in our usual Board Meeting Room downtown. Instead, the meetings will be held at the Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel in the Sunset Conference Room – see further details below.
Please note that SDCERS Board and Committee meetings are not currently being held remotely – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the September 2022 meetings here.
Meeting Location & Parking
SDCERS’ usual Board Meeting Room remains under construction. Therefore, the September meetings will be held in the Sunset Conference Room at the Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel, located at 2051 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92106. Parking is complimentary, either at the hotel or across the street.
Meeting Dates
September 8th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting 12:30 p.m. PST
September 9th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment, either by attending the meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins, or by submitting a written statement ahead of time. To request a written statement to be read aloud at a meeting, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the corresponding meeting. Please include the following information in your request: Your contact information and the meeting during which you would like your comment to be read aloud. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the appropriate meeting.
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SDCERS’ 2022 Summer SCOOP Newsletter has arrived and should hit mailboxes within the next week or so! 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 2022 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 not yet retired or entered DROP should be receiving their Annual Member Statement in the mail over the next week. This statement contains detailed account information for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, which means the information is current as of July 1, 2022. 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 access 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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After 15 years with the SDCERS investment team and a career in investing, SDCERS’ longtime Chief Investment Officer Liza Crisafi celebrated a well-earned retirement at the end of July. Liza announced her retirement well in advance, allowing SDCERS to conduct an extensive national search. We are pleased to announce that Carina Coleman will be SDCERS’ new Chief Investment Officer!
As a former SDCERS Board Member (and Board President), Carina is a familiar face around SDCERS. “Carina brings technical expertise, strong business acumen, practical CIO experience, detailed knowledge of SDCERS’ investment program policies, good relationships with key SDCERS business partners, and, importantly, a leadership and soft skill set which is in close alignment with SDCERS’ core values,” said Gregg Rademacher, SDCERS CEO. We expect Carina will be joining the team on August 18th. In the interim, Senior Investment Officer Jamie Hamrick is serving as Interim CIO. Jamie, along with our entire investment team, will ensure a smooth transition.
Carina takes charge of SDCERS’ investment portfolio, which was valued at approximately $10.9 billion as of the end of the first quarter of 2022. SDCERS has a well-diversified portfolio that has achieved risk-adjusted returns in the top decile compared to similarly-sized public pension plans over the past 3, 5, and 10 years. Carina shared, “I am very excited about the opportunity to serve as CIO for SDCERS. I have enjoyed working with SDCERS as a Trustee and I look forward to leading the investment team of this well-respected organization.”Carina Coleman, SDCERS' New Chief Investment Officer
Carina most recently served as the Director, Pension and Trust Investments, at Sempra. She earned her MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business and is a CFA and CAIA Charterholder. She also holds an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics/International Area Studies and German Studies from UCLA. Carina has experience managing the investments of multi-billion-dollar retirement plans of varying risk profiles across multiple asset classes. She further has expertise in formulating investment policy, constructing portfolios to meet return and risk objectives, conducting investment manager due diligence, and analyzing risk and performance.
Professional recruiting firm EFL & Associates assisted in the search to fill the CIO position.
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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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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled July 2022 Board and Committee meetings in a conference room at SDCERS’ downtown office building. This means that this month’s Board and Committee meetings will not be held remotely – Board and Committee members, as well as some SDCERS staff, will be on-site and the public is welcome to attend in person as well. You can find the agendas for the July 2022 meetings here.
Meeting Location & Parking
SDCERS’ usual Board Meeting Room is currently under construction. Therefore, the July meetings will be held in the same building, at 401 West A Street, San Diego, CA 92101, but in Suite 120, which is on the main floor (lobby level) – please don’t hesitate to ask a building staff member at the security/information desk for directions if you have trouble locating the room. You can park in the building’s underground parking garage – if you do so, please be sure to bring your parking ticket with you to the meeting, write your name at the top, and place it in the basket labeled “Parking Validation” in the meeting room. At the end of the meeting, you can retrieve your validated ticket and use it to exit the parking garage at no cost. You can find driving directions and parking instructions on this page.
Meeting Dates
July 6th – Audit Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
July 7th – Disability Committee meeting at 9:00 a.m. PST
Business & Governance Committee meeting at
9:15 a.m. PST
Investment Committee meeting 12:30 p.m. PST
July 8th – Board of Administration meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST
You may request to participate in public comment, either by attending the meeting in person and providing a completed Request to Speak form to the Board Assistant before the meeting begins, or by submitting a written statement ahead of time. To request a written statement to be read aloud at a meeting, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the corresponding meeting. Please include the following information in your request: Your contact information and the meeting during which you would like your comment to be read aloud. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the appropriate meeting.
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This article is only applicable to City retirees who have a health reimbursement plan through the City.
The City of San Diego and the San Diego Public Employee Benefits Association (SDPEBA) are changing the effective date of their retiree healthcare plan offerings. Starting January 1, 2023, the sponsored retiree healthcare plans will be effective based on the calendar year, rather than the fiscal year. However, the annual allowances for retiree healthcare will continue to be offered on the fiscal year, resetting each July 1st.
Below are the fiscal year 2023 retiree healthcare allowances (effective July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023).
Remember, if you would like to change plans before this year’s Open Enrollment in November, you may do so from June 1, 2022 through June 30, 2022. You will be able to choose from the current plan offerings. You can review information about the current plans and download enrollment/disenrollment forms on this page. All forms must be received by 5:00 p.m. (PST) on Thursday, June 30, 2022. All changes timely submitted will be effective August 1, 2022. You may submit your forms via email (attached as a PDF) to health@sdcers.org, by mail to SDCERS Health Division, 401 West A Street, Suite 400, San Diego, CA 92101 or by fax to (858) 581-5314.
If you do not want to make any changes to your current healthcare, dental, or vision plan, you do not have to take any action during Open Enrollment and your coverage will remain the same.
For plans beginning in January 2023, you will receive the full Open Enrollment booklet in November 2022 with information on plans and premiums. If you do not want to make any changes to your current healthcare, dental, or vision plan for 2023, you do not need to take any action in November 2022 and your coverage will remain the same for 2023.
If you have any questions, you can contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600, open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. PST. However, as this is a significant change to retiree health, we anticipate a higher than usual call volume over the next several months. If your question is not urgent, we recommend submitting your request electronically via the Contact Us page; SDCERS staff generally will respond to electronic inquiries within one business day. Please note that at this time, SDCERS’ physical downtown offices are still closed to members and the public.
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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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After many years of service, longtime Board Member and previous Board President Carina Coleman is leaving SDCERS' Board of Administration. On behalf of all SDCERS staff, we sincerely thank you for volunteering your time to serve on our Board.
At today's Board meeting, Paul Kaufmann (formerly Board Vice President) was unanimously elected to assume the position of Board President. Mr. Kaufmann also currently serves on SDCERS' Business & Governance Committee and previously served on SDCERS' Audit Committee for many years. He is also a Community Advisory Board Member at Sanford Burnham Prebys, a non-profit medical research institution that is dedicated to finding cures for human diseases. In his free time, Mr. Kaufmann works as an Adjunct Professor at Brandman University’s Business School in Irvine, CA.
SDCERS' Board and staff looks forward to continue working with Paul Kaufmann as we all strive to fulfill SDCERS' mission of delivering benefits timely and accurately, and ensuring the trust fund's safety, integrity, and growth.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled May 2022 Board and Committee meetings remotely. This means the Board meeting room will be closed to the public and only SDCERS staff whose presence is necessary to run the meeting will be onsite.
Although the public will be unable to physically attend these meetings, we have made the meetings available for the public to attend remotely. To attend the Disability and/or Investment Committee meetings, please click the corresponding link below prior to the start time of the meeting. You will have to download the Zoom application in order to attend.
May 12th, 9:00 a.m. PST Disability Committee meeting Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89364107160
May 12th, 12:30 p.m. PST Investment Committee meeting Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83157319370
Once you are in the meeting, you can click the “View Options” bar at the top of the screen and then “Side-by-side mode” in order to see both the presenter’s screen and the webcams of Committee members and panelists.
SDCERS will also be live streaming the entirety of the Business & Governance Committee meeting on May 12th at 9:15 a.m. PST, and the Board meeting on May 13th at 8:30 a.m. PST. To access the live stream for either meeting, go to our Board Meeting Agendas page before the meeting starts and click on the “Agenda” link corresponding to the meeting you wish to attend. This will open a new tab with the agenda for that meeting, which includes an embedded video player that will automatically begin the live stream once the meeting starts. Video recordings of the meetings will also be available on this same page the week following the meeting, as well as on our YouTube page.
You may request to participate in public comment, either live (via Zoom) or written statement. To request time to speak, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting you are requesting participation in. If you only wish for your written comments to be read aloud at the meeting, you can send us a message via our Contact Us page up to one hour before the relevant meeting. Include the following information in your request: your contact information, which meeting you wish to participate in, and if you would like your statement read aloud at the meeting or if you would like to speak during the meeting. If you are requesting to speak aloud at the meeting, someone from SDCERS will contact you with instructions for how to join the corresponding meeting. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the appropriate meeting.
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Note: This is only applicable to City retirees who are enrolled in, or plan to enroll in, a City retiree health insurance plan.
SDCERS recently mailed a letter to all City retirees explaining the upcoming changes to City retiree healthcare. Historically, the City’s retiree health insurance plans have been implemented according to the fiscal year, with open enrollment traditionally held in June and plan changes effective the following August. However, beginning January 1, 2023, the City’s retiree health insurance plans will be effective based on the calendar year instead.
This means the City’s retiree health plans will begin each January 1st, instead of August 1st. If you are currently participating in a City retiree health plan, or if you intend to enroll in a City retiree health plan in the future, the following applies to you:In order to smooth the transition, the City’s sponsored retiree healthcare plans and premiums will remain unchanged through December 31, 2022.The annual Open Enrollment period will now take place in November, rather than June – at this time, we expect this year’s Open Enrollment will begin on November 1, 2022 and end November 30, 2022; however, you will be notified via mail when the dates have been confirmed.The Comprehensive Retiree Health Book for plan year 2023 will be mailed to you around November 1, 2022.If you are satisfied with your current plan, you do NOT need to do anything right now – you will receive further instructions and information about available health plans and premiums for plan year 2023 prior to Open Enrollment in November.If you would like to change plans before this year’s Open Enrollment in November, you may do so in June 2022 – you will be able to choose from the current plan offerings shown in the 2021-2022 Comprehensive Retiree Health Book. Additional information about available plans can be found here, plan provider videos can be viewed here, and enrollment forms can be downloaded and printed at the bottom of this page.You can send health enrollment or disenrollment forms to SDCERS by mail, fax, or email – please review the directions for sending health-related documents on this page.Please be advised that if you change plans in June 2022, the effective date of your new plan will be August 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. You may still participate in the November 2022 Open Enrollment. IMPORTANT: The annual healthcare allowances will continue to be effective according to the fiscal year (July 1st – June 30th). Keep in mind that your healthcare premium may change in December, but your allowance will remain the same until the following July. You will receive another letter in the next month or so regarding your fiscal year 2023 healthcare allowance, if applicable to you.
If you have any questions, you can contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600, open on regular business days from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. PST. However, as this is a significant change to retiree health, we anticipate a higher than usual call volume over the next several months. If your question is not urgent, we recommend submitting your request electronically via the Contact Us page; SDCERS staff will generally respond to electronic inquiries within one business day. Please note that at this time, SDCERS’ physical downtown offices are still closed to members and the public.
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This article is only applicable to City retirees who have a health reimbursement plan through the City.
Beginning with plan year 2023, the City is allowing SDCERS to offer an Annual Privately Secured reimbursement option for certain health plans. This will allow eligible members to receive an automatic reimbursement each month throughout the plan year, without having to provide monthly proof of payment. Eligible City retirees will receive a letter in November 2022 describing the new Annual Privately Secured reimbursement option, which will be fully implemented in January 2023, when the new plan year begins.
In order to qualify for the automatic reimbursement, you must be a City retiree enrolling in a private health insurance plan that has the same monthly premium for a 12-month period. Retirees enrolled in a health plan with fluctuating premium amounts do not qualify and will need to continue submitting monthly reimbursement requests.
Note: If you are a City retiree enrolling in a new plan before January 2023, you may be eligible for early participation in the Annual Privately Secured automatic reimbursement option when your new plan begins – please contact the SDCERS Health Team at health@sdcers.org for more information. However, if you already enrolled in your new plan for 2022, you will not be able to begin participating in the automatic reimbursement process until your plan renews.
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Each year, the San Diego Business Journal honors the financial executives who work behind the scenes — the Chief Financial Officers (“CFO’s). Now in its 17th year, the “CFO of the Year Award” recognizes contributions to company growth, leadership, and community involvement by top financial executives in the San Diego area.
This year, a panel of independent judges drawn from the region’s top financial leaders selected SDCERS’ Board Member Lisa Marie Harris as their top public sector CFO! This is a well-deserved recognition for Lisa Marie Harris and only further demonstrates how lucky we are to have her on our Board of Administration and Investment Committee. You can read more about her, as well as our other Board Members, on this page.
Congratulations Lisa Marie!
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A common question we get from our members is, “when should I retire/enter DROP?” Unfortunately, this is a question we cannot answer for you. What we can do is point out certain factors you should take into account when making this decision for yourself, but ultimately, it is a decision you must make on your own. Here are a few important considerations that may affect your decision:COLA – the annual cost of living adjustment (“COLA”) applies to all retirees’ monthly pension benefit every July 1st and may increase your benefit up to 2%. Some members choose to retire on or before June 30th so that their benefit receives the COLA immediately after their retirement.Annual Interest – on the flip side, some members wait to retire until after June 30th of a given year so that their contribution account receives the annual interest (currently 6.5%), which only applies to members who are not retired on July 1st. The additional interest added to a member’s COL Annuity and Surviving Spouse Annuity contributions may increase their initial benefit calculation even more than the COLA would have, had they retired before July 1st.Salary Increases – did you recently receive a significant salary increase? If so, you may want to continue working and receiving that higher salary for a longer time period before retiring, so that the higher salary is factored into your benefit calculation. Remember, depending on your plan tier, the “Final Compensation” used to calculate your benefit is your highest pensionable salary averaged over either three years or 12 consecutive months. Therefore, if you retire shortly after receiving a raise, it won’t significantly increase your pension benefit.Birthday – your retirement factor, another element of your pension benefit formula, is determined based on your plan tier and age at retirement, prorated in quarterly increments. When deciding on your retirement date, consider your exact age – for example, if your plan tier’s retirement factor increases between 60 and 61, and you retire when you are 60 years and 6 months old, the factor used in your benefit calculation will be slightly higher than what would be used if you retired at 60 years and 5 months old. (Note: Your quarter age is rounded down for the purposes of this calculation.) Of course, all of these considerations must be balanced by your personal circumstances and desires – such as the minimum post-retirement income you can comfortably live with and how much longer you want to continue working.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled March 2022 Board and Committee meetings. All meetings will continue to be held remotely for the foreseeable future. This means the Board meeting room will be closed to the public and only SDCERS staff whose presence is necessary to run the meeting will be onsite.
Although the public will be unable to physically attend these meetings, we have made the meetings available for the public to attend remotely. To attend the Audit, Disability, and/or Investment Committee meetings, please click the corresponding link below prior to the start time of the meeting. You will have to download the Zoom application in order to attend.
March 9th, 9:00 a.m. PST Audit Committee meeting Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81986570342
March 10th, 9:00 a.m. PST Disability Committee meeting Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82626964405
March 10th, 12:30 p.m. PST Investment Committee meeting Zoom link:https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83991781255
Once you are in the meeting, you can click the “View Options” bar at the top of the screen and then “Side-by-side mode” in order to see both the presenter’s screen and the webcams of Committee members and panelists.
SDCERS will also be live streaming the entirety of the Business & Governance Committee meeting on March 10th at 9:15 a.m. PST, and the Board meeting on March 11th at 8:30 a.m. PST. To access the live stream for either meeting, go to our Board Meeting Agendas page before the meeting starts and click on the “Agenda” link corresponding to the meeting you wish to attend. This will open a new tab with the agenda for that meeting, which includes an embedded video player that will automatically begin the live stream once the meeting starts. Video recordings of the meetings will also be available on this same page the week following the meeting, as well as on our YouTube page.
You may request to participate in public comment, either live (via Zoom) or written statement. To request time to speak, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting you are requesting participation in. If you only wish for your written comments to be read aloud at the meeting, you can send us a message via our Contact Us page up to one hour before the relevant meeting. Include the following information in your request: your contact information, which meeting you wish to participate in, and if you would like your statement read aloud at the meeting or if you would like to speak during the meeting. If you are requesting to speak aloud at the meeting, someone from SDCERS will contact you with instructions for how to join the corresponding meeting. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the appropriate meeting.
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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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On December 16th, voting concluded in the election for SDCERS' active General Board Member seat. All active General Members (City, Port, and Airport) were eligible to vote in the General Board Member elections. Thank you to all who participated in these elections, and especially to both candidates for volunteering their time.
The candidate who received the majority of votes for the General Board Member seat was Thomas Battaglia. The full Board recertified the election results at today’s meeting. You may recognize his name from past Board meetings, because Thomas previously served as one of our two active General Board Members from January 2017 to March 2021. As he is replacing former Board Member Sarah Mayen, who terminated City service before her four-year term ended, Thomas will serve the remainder of Sarah Mayen’s term, ending March 31, 2025.
Congratulations to our newest elected Board Member and thank you in advance for your voluntary service on SDCERS’ Board of Administration!
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All IRS Form 1099-R’s for tax year 2021 have been mailed. This means all SDCERS retirees and beneficiaries who received a payment from SDCERS in calendar year 2021 should be receiving their 2021 1099-R forms via U.S. mail over the next couple of weeks. To access your 1099-R form sooner, please log in to your Member Portal account, click on “Tax Reporting” on the left, and select “2021 1099R” to download an electronic copy. You can also update your tax withholding preferences on your Member Portal by clicking on “Tax Withholding.” This guide explains how to update your tax withholding preferences.
For a detailed explanation of the pertinent information in your 1099-R, as well as answers to frequently asked questions regarding this tax form, please review our 1099-R Fact Sheet. If you have additional questions, please contact the Call Center at (619) 525-3600 or submit your questions electronically via our Contact Us web form.
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SDCERS will be holding its regularly scheduled January 2022 Board and Committee meetings. All meetings will continue to be held remotely for the foreseeable future. This means the Board meeting room will be closed to the public and only SDCERS staff whose presence is necessary to run the meeting will be onsite.
Although the public will be unable to physically attend these meetings, we have made the meetings available for the public to attend remotely. To attend the Disability and/or Investment Committee meetings, please click the corresponding link below prior to the start time of the meeting. You will have to download the Zoom application in order to attend.
January 13th, 9:00 a.m. PST Disability Committee meeting Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89423822375
January 13th, 12:30 p.m. PST Investment Committee meeting Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82991287838
Once you are in the meeting, you can click the “View Options” bar at the top of the screen and then “Side-by-side mode” in order to see both the presenter’s screen and the webcams of Committee members and panelists.
SDCERS will also be live streaming the entirety of the Business & Governance Committee meeting on January 13th at 9:15 a.m. PST, and the Board meeting on January 14th at 8:30 a.m. PST. To access the live stream for either meeting, go to our Board Meeting Agendas page before the meeting starts and click on the “Agenda” link corresponding to the meeting you wish to attend. This will open a new tab with the agenda for that meeting, which includes an embedded video player that will automatically begin the live stream once the meeting starts. Video recordings of the meetings will also be available on this same page the week following the meeting, as well as on our YouTube page.
You may request to participate in public comment, either live (via Zoom) or written statement. To request time to speak, use the Contact Us page on our website to submit your public comment request at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting you are requesting participation in. If you only wish for your written comments to be read aloud at the meeting, you can send us a message via our Contact Us page up to one hour before the relevant meeting. Include the following information in your request: your contact information, which meeting you wish to participate in, and if you would like your statement read aloud at the meeting or if you would like to speak during the meeting. If you are requesting to speak aloud at the meeting, someone from SDCERS will contact you with instructions for how to join the corresponding meeting. All appropriate messages timely received will be responded to and/or read aloud at the appropriate meeting.
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Please be advised that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our downtown offices remain closed to all but essential staff members required to be in the office in order to perform daily tasks. The majority of SDCERS’ staff continues to work remotely and, unfortunately, our members are still not permitted on site. However, our Call Center continues to be open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. To help decrease call volume, please submit non-urgent questions or concerns via our Contact Us page, which we continue to monitor and generally respond to within one business day.
We will continue to conduct retirement counseling appointments telephonically, which we have been doing since March of 2020. The phone counseling sessions have been well-received, and document signing takes place via email exchange. If you already have a retirement counseling appointment scheduled, you will be contacted in advance with details. If you have recently submitted your online application, you will be contacted soon to schedule your appointment.
If you are thinking about retiring or entering DROP soon, please review the fact sheets, FAQs, and videos on our website, which will help answer many of your questions in advance. Keep an eye out for retirement educational webinars, which are announced periodically via your work email. You can also estimate your future retirement benefit by using the Benefit Calculator on the Member Portal. If you have not already registered on our secure Member Portal, click on “Register” on the Member Portal page and follow the registration instructions.
Once you have reviewed all of the pertinent information, if you want to schedule a retirement counseling appointment (including for service retirements, DROP entries, and DROP exits), you must submit an online retirement application through your Member Portal account by clicking “Online Applications” on the left panel. Keep in mind this electronic application is not final – your submission simply prompts us to contact you to schedule a counseling appointment.
CITY RETIREE HEALTH REIMBURSEMENTS: City Retiree Health Reimbursement requests are being processed as usual. For fastest processing, submit your documents via email (attached as a PDF) to health@sdcers.org. Please ensure you have submitted complete documents – we will contact you if we receive incomplete submissions, which may result in delayed reimbursements. Alternatively, you may fax your documents to (858) 581-5314, or mail them to our office at 401 West A Street, Ste. 400, San Diego, CA 92101.
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SDCERS is proud to announce it has received the Municipal Information System Association of California (MISAC) Quality Information Technology Practices Award for the fourth year in a row. MISAC is a collaborative organization of California local government IT professionals with the goal of promoting leadership, information sharing, and access to resources to enhance local government services and effectiveness. Membership includes cities, towns, public safety, special districts, and other local governmental agencies/districts.
MISAC's Quality IT Practices program is meant to document and acknowledgement MISAC agencies that are following IT best practices. Applicants are required to submit a detailed questionnaire and supporting material. Agency’s strengths are benchmarked to System Administration, Audit, Network, and Security (SANS) Institute standards. The SANS Institute is a cooperative research and education organization of security practitioners from varied worldwide organizations, corporations, and universities working together to help the global information security community.
Receiving MISAC Quality IT Practices Award is an honor and tribute to the dedication and performance of SDCERS’ IT staff and contractors.
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