Overview of Utah's Retirement System

On Tuesday 2/2/2010 UPEA staff attended the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel’s (OLRGC) “Bagels and Briefings – Overview of Utah’s Retirement System.”

Policy Analyst Ben Christensen went over the history and membership of the retirement system. Currently there are 155,667 employees in the Public Employee Noncontributory Retirement System (or the Big System), of which 52% include public and higher education employees, 20% include state employees, 27% include counties and local districts. Christensen also discussed the retirement allowance formula of years of service multiplied by 2% and the average of an employee’s 3 highest salaries. Lastly Christensen noted how the financial losses of 2008 affected the retirement system as a whole.

Next fiscal analyst Danny Schofield noted how the URS Retirement Board asked for a 2.1% contribution rate increase for the public employees contributory and noncontributory systems. According to the URS Retirement Board, if the contribution rate increase is funded, the retirement system will remain actuarially sound. In addition, URS annually expects at least a 7.75% investment return. In 2009, URS received a 13% return on investments. Schofield also spoke about the $23 million PEHP increase for FY 2011.

Lastly Darin Underwood from the Auditor General’s Office discussed the Reemployed Retiree Audit, presented to the Audit Subcommittee and Retirement and Independent Entities Committee November 2009.

UPEA is at the forefront of the retirement discussion and will continue to present arguments and information on how URS is still the best funded retirement system in the country.