Colorado PERA, the State’s public employee retirement plan, has faced criticism for not releasing information about retirement benefits for specific individuals who are plan members. PERA takes its responsibility to protect the privacy of its members very seriously.
As a retirement system created by the Colorado General Assembly in 1931, PERA has to balance that responsibility as outlined in State law, with its desire to keep the public informed and to act as a steward of the resources of its over 487,000 members and retirees. But it is also committed to being open and transparent as a financial organization to both its own members and to Colorado taxpayers. Many of PERA’s policies specifically address the goal of making information about its finances widely available.
PERA actively engages with the public and is transparent
PERA welcomes and encourages active involvement from the public, members, and retirees. In fact, PERA works to be easily accessible to all its members and interested people in the public through regular open meetings, active outreach around the State, and a thorough Web site that has a wealth of information about how the State’s public employee retirement fund is managed. The PERA Board of Trustees oversees the investment of retirement funds and management of PERA by law. Twelve trustees, including a non-voting representative from the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Division, are elected by the membership to serve four-year terms. Three Trustees are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The State Treasurer serves as an ex officio Trustee.
All PERA Board meetings, including Committee meetings, are scheduled in advance and open to the public – anyone can attend. There is an opportunity for public comment at each Board meeting. PERA also posts minutes from all Board meetings and agendas for Committee meetings on its Web site.
In addition to its regular Board meetings, PERA conducts a series of shareholder meetings across the State. These are typically held in the fall in locations around the state with the goal of making it easy for members to hear directly from PERA’s executive staff without traveling far from home. In addition, for the last several years PERA has made a video of a shareholder meeting available.
PERA provides thorough and accurate accounting of its finances and investments
In keeping with its goal of providing thorough, open, and transparent financial information to its members and the public, PERA makes an exhaustive amount of information about its financial investments and portfolio performance available online. This starts with the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This is a comprehensive, 187-page report detailing legislative, financial, and management changes at PERA over the last year, as well as the audited financial statements on the funds’ fiscal status and an independent auditors’ report. The CAFR follows state law and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The CAFR has received the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the past 26 years. The Certificate is presented to government units and public employee retirement systems whose CAFR achieves the highest standards in government accounting and financial reporting.
Other financial disclosures of the funds’ status include a Summary Annual Financial Report (a shorter version of the CAFR) and Annual Report for the PERAPlus 401(k)/457 and PERA DC Plans.
PERA follows its own publically available Statement of Investment Policy, which sets the policies by which its investments are managed. Its asset allocation, or the targets and ranges for each type of investment (such as global equity, fixed income) are listed online. Its Alternative Investment portfolio and quarterly investment performance are also available online. Securities and Exchange Commission filings filed each quarter by PERA are available on the SEC’s Web site.
PERA promotes access to transparent information
PERA is always looking for new ways to provide information to interested persons, whether that is current members, retirees, public officials, the media, or the general public. Of course it is also a priority to protect the privacy of individuals with accounts at PERA. In fact, Colorado State statutes require that information contained in all individual PERA member and benefit recipient records be kept confidential. Actuarial consultants review each member and retiree record with PERA every year. They report the results of their overall analysis to the PERA Board of Trustees and to the Colorado General Assembly’s Legislative Audit Committee. In order to further access to transparent information about benefits, PERA created a fact sheet that includes the number of retirees by different ranges of annual benefits such as the number of retirees earning benefits between $10,000–$24,999, $25,000–$49,999, and so on. Data from the fact sheet has been included in the 2011 CAFR.
PERA also reports to the House and Senate Finance Committee and Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado General Assembly each year.
Conclusion
PERA will continue to make available information about its investments and management. This includes providing materials for the general public and its members. PERA also has staff resources available to help anyone who is interested to navigate and understand the wealth of materials that are available. This is true for members who have questions about their own retirement circumstances as well as members of the public who want to know more about how PERA manages the assets of its 487,000 members and retirees.