Hats Off to Our County Commissioners!
State of the County
…When the legislature passed PERS reform in 2013, our financial, legal and Human Resources staff recommended to the Board that we set aside the projected savings in a reserve account because of the potential for those reforms to be overturned in the courts. In addition, that same staff had bonded some of our PERS liability when interest rates were low and nearly fully funded our liability.
This higher level of funding directly impacts the rate that Lane County is charged to cover PERS expenses for our employees.
While other public employers in Oregon, with less than 80 percent of their PERS liability funded, saw their rates raise by as much as 6 percentage points in FY 15- 16, Lane County experienced an increase of just 1.8 percentage points for the same time period. If we had experienced a 6 percentage point increase, it would have cost Lane County an additional $3.3 million dollars annually.
This cost avoidance, along with the reserve set aside… provides greater financial stability for Lane County into the foreseeable future….
We Respond & Your Comments
Usually, asking politicians not to spend money is like putting a T-bone steak in front of your dog and asking him not to eat it ‘til tomorrow. But not so with our Lane County Commissioners!.
Please join us in giving a big round of applause to our County Commissioners for having the foresight to put money aside in case PERS reform turned sour – which it did.
It’s always easy to criticize government. So it’s important that when our elected leaders do the right thing to acknowledge it and thank them.
So – Jay, Pat, Sid, Faye & yes, Pete too – a big THANK YOU!
Comments are closed.