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Del Norte BOS To Consider Transferring Retirement Benefit Assets To Private Trust; Firm’s Rep To Give Presentation

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Del Norte County Supervisors on Tuesday will discuss transferring assets from a California Public Employees Retirement System-managed trust to one managed by a private firm.

Public Agencies Retirement Service (PARS) Senior Consultant Matt Spooner is also expected to give a presentation to the Board about his firm’s 115 OPEB Prefunding Program and Pension Rate Stabilization Program.

The Board of Supervisors last month approved establishing the Section 115 Trust with PARS after Spooner said it would provide greater flexibility when it comes to the county paying its share of its employees pension and other retirement benefits.

Following their vote on Jan. 14, County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez said he would follow up with a resolution to the Board that would transfer about $1 million from a CalPERS trust to the PARS trust.

Lopez and Spooner assured supervisors that Del Norte wasn’t abandoning the state’s pension program. The defined benefit program still comes from CalPERS, Spooner said, but the PARS trust fund provides greater returns than the state trust fund.

Spooner also referred to PARS’ Section 115 Trust as a “savings account on steroids.” This statement came after District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard asked if the county could tap into those funds in the event of a natural disaster.

“We have the flexibility to handle that income that is sitting in that trust account,” Howard asked Spooner on Jan. 14.

Spooner answered in the affirmative.

According to Lopez, the county’s Proactive Financial Management Technical Advisory Committee had been vetting PARS for about two years. Investments in the Section 115 Combination Trust the firm offers are held by US Bank as the trustee and are managed by PFM Management, according to Lopez’s Jan. 14 Board report.

Also on Tuesday, Del Norte’s newest assemblyman, Chris Rogers, will introduce himself to the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors will hear an update on the comprehensive pathway out of homelessness Del Norte County and Del Norte Mission Possible is building using about $10 million in Encampment Resolution Fund dollars.

The Board of Supervisors will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City. The agenda and meeting materials are available on the county’s website and meetings are streamed live via YouTube.