Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-04-21 MinutesPolicemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 1 of 10 Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April 21, 2005 A meeting of the Fayetteville Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board was held on April 21, 2005 at 1:30 PM in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Mayor Coody called the meeting to order Present: Mayor Coody, Randy Bradley, Jerry Friend, Tim Helder, Dr Mashburn, Jerry Surles, Sondra Smith, Kit Williams, Eldon Roberts, Elaine Longer and Kim Cooper with Longer Investments. Approval of the Minutes: Approval of the January 20, 2005 Meeting Minutes and March 31, 2005 Special Meeting Minutes. Tim Helder moved to approve the minutes. Jerry Friend seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Approval of the Pension List: Approval of February, March and April, 2005 Pension List Sondra Smith: We had two decease since the last time we met. They are listed on your Pension List. The pension total has been reduced by the amount they were receiving. The two that deceased were Willadean Arnold and Frieda Skelton. Randy Bradley moved to approve the Pension List for February, March and April, 2005. Dr. Mashburn seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Investment Report, Longer Investments: Mayor Coody: What's the good news? Elaine Longer: The good new is that the market is up today. Mayor Coody: So what is the crux of your report? Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 2 of 10 Elaine Longer: The crux is that we have purchasing power. We have about 43% equity. We added to a 3.5% treasury that matures in November, 2006 that holds 7% of the portfolio, so our purchasing power is earning 3.5% while we wait. That is as good as cash for us because we can convert it to cash the next day. In the mean time, through March 31, your stocks were down about 3%, the S&P was off about 2.6%, NASQUE was down 8.5%. NASQUE has really been hit harder than all the other averages. The bonds were actually down for the first quarter as well because of rising interest rates. The bond indices were down 0.42%; your bonds are down about 0.4%, so the total decline for the first quarter was about 1.9%. The asset allocation again holds the power of the portfolio. To show you how much worse the market has been in the month of April, through yesterday the S&P was down 6% year to date, the DOW was down 6% and the NASQUE was down 12%. If you go back to 12/31/03 you have actually erased, more than erased, the gains that were made in the year of 2004, since the first of the year. The DOW is actually down from 12/31/03 by about 2%, the NASQUE is down about 4.5% and the S&P is about plus 2%. So, it has been a really grizzly start to the year. But you are proportioned for this. Now if you weren't positioned for this, this would be very painful. Mayor Coody: But you did a good job of getting us ready for this. Elaine Longer: Yes. These things bring about opportunities. Mayor Coody: Are you recommending opportunities? Elaine Longer: Well today we did some buying. Warehouser came out with good earnings and they increased the dividend 25%. That gives us an entry point with a 3.1% yield. So there are these pockets of opportunity. The dividend increases this year have been very significant, because of the fact that President Bush won re-election. It is a 90% probability that the 15% tax rate on the dividend will stay; it comes off in 2008 and there was some question if he had not been re-elected whether or not it would stay. You have Republican House in the Senate and the precedence is that they are probably going to keep it in place. The dividend increase this year has run close to 20% at the corporate level, so it is affecting corporate behavior in the board room. Corporations are really increasing the dividend a lot, so it is affecting corporate behavior in the board room. We had exited Pfizer when all the Merck problems came about, we left at about 30. We got back into Pfizer at about 10% below where we exited and you have a 2.85% yield which is still higher than what you can get a short term treasury. So there are pockets of opportunity. Sondra Smith: The new Investment Policy from Longer Investments is being circulated for you to sign. In January we voted to change the equity portion. Longer Investments sent two originals so that we will have an original signed copy and Longer will have an original signed copy. Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 3 of 10 Kit Williams: So do you think bonds are still going to have some trouble because of possible inflation and the possibility of interest rates still going up? Elaine Longer: Well, we had a real backing up in yields in the first quarter, to the point that the 10 year treasury reached about a 460. Then we had some numbers on the economy that are starting to show that the interest rate increase and the energy price increase is starting to bite. So, estimates of GDP growth are going from 3.8% in the fourth quarter, to about 3% in the first quarter, dropping off to 2% in the second quarter. With that the interest rates have eased somewhat, crude oil has come down from $58 a barrel to about $53 a barrel so we have had some relief. But yesterday's inflation number was very troubling, so with yesterday's number, the interest rates went higher. You have a number of factors working out there; you have a stock market that's at reasonable valuation given the earnings expectations and the current interest rate on the 10 year. At the same time that you can say that about where stocks are, you also have to recognize that the macro economic risks are really increasing and growing at a worrisome rate. The social security reform that we are looking at now, we are telling the world how bad it is. Greenspan's testimony today was fabulous; he talked about not just the cost of social security, but also the demographic train wreck on the Medicare side which is even more unpredictable. We can predict social security pretty accurately but you don't know what medical costs are going to do, so the Medicare is an even greater risk. Dr. Mashburn: I'll tell you what they are going to do. They are going to keep going up. Elaine Longer: We just don't know the rate. They can't plug the rate into a computer and say this is what it is going to be. I think that his testimony in front of Congress was very good. He is saying we have basically promised too much to the baby boom generation and we can't deliver. There are only two ways out of this, reduction of benefits or increase in taxes. What Greenspan says is true. The math doesn't work, so now you have to come out with a real solution which is going to require pain spread across three or four generations. Nothing I am seeing out there talks pain to anybody. Until you see some shared pain and shared sacrifice, I don't think there is really a credible social security reform plan out there yet. That's affecting the currency markets. You have the oil prices going up and you have the Federal Government still in a position of rising interest rates. With the inflation numbers of this week and last week, I think you can count on another rate increase in May, so that takes us to 3%. Inflation expectations are going higher to where 3% a year ago would have given you a 1% inflation adjusted rate, 3% now hasn't really caught up to where inflation is showing. So we are probably going to go to 4% or 4.25%. All of that is affecting the stock market and it is important to factor that into everything that we are doing. That is why we are sitting with some purchasing power. It's good to have it out of the money market and into the treasury side because then we have to make the conscience decision to sell the 3.5% and go back into the stock market. We're just not there yet Jerry Friend: Elaine, if you thought oil was going to go to $100 a barrel or almost, what would you do? Elaine Longer: Well, we are still over weight energy. We were over weight coming into the year and we are still over weight. We have trimmed the sails in the first because a lot of that $100 a barrel talk was on TV and in the newspapers. So we sneaked out the back door with a Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 4 of 10 little bit of the profits. When we were buying them, we were buying them because of the income yield and it was hard at that point to get a 3% yield on those stocks. I think that the oil stocks really probably peaked at the end of the first quarter in terms of relative performance. Jerry Friend: But if it went that high, what would it do to all the other stocks? Elaine Longer: It depends on how quickly we get there. If you inflation adjust the price of oil and go back to the 1970's, you have to be at $85 a barrel to even be at the inflation adjusted high of the 70's. So, it is not as bad as it looks right now. Now if we went from $50 barrel to $85 a barrel in a quarter, it would be a problem. Jerry Friend: But if we went up to the real price, it is still going to cause a lot of inflation. Elaine Longer: It depends. It is interesting that oil prices are a smaller part of GDP and GDP inflation than it was in the 70's. That's why you have had crude oil move from $30 to $55 or $58 and you are still looking at 2.5% to 3% inflation. It has popped it up to a low of about 1.5% but we are not looking at 8% or 10%. There are lots of reasons for that. It depends a lot on the speed that we achieve a higher price. This is the first increase in energy prices that we have ever had that was demand driven not supply driven. Then, we hear Saudi Arabia talking about increasing their oil production, there is not enough to increase to offset the demand in China. That demand is going to go for 5 to 10 years. Jerry Friend: I think they are third in consumption and only about 2% of them have cars. Dr. Mashburn: How much longer are they going to be able to keep pumping oil and no one coming up with a reasonable alternate supply of energy? I think It's just a matter of time until we are going to be in a complete energy crisis. Unless we start doing some planning and getting ready for it, we are going to be in bad trouble. Elaine Longer: There is a book called the Oil Factor that I read. There are several alternative types of energy that are not being employed fully at this point that will be employed as the price goes toward the $100 per barrel. There will be opportunities, but there again; it will depend on the speed that we get to $100 barrel. Dr. Mashburn: We were using coal before oil. I wonder if the coal supply is that great. Kit Williams: I think we have a lot of coal. Elaine Longer: We have a lot of coal. But it's dirty. Your net realized gains year to date showed about $154,000 at March 31, 2005. As far as what we are over weight and under weight on, nothing has changed much except the healthcare. We have been adding to the healthcare sector so we are over weight on healthcare and we had been quite under weight for some time. Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 5 of 10 Old Business Benefit Increase Mayor Coody: From what I understand, there has been a request for an increase in the benefit from 95%. Sondra Smith: The request was for several different ways to see if we could do an increase. The letter that we received from the Arkansas Fire & Police Pension Review Board states that we have to send a resolution to them stating only one way that we want an increase and for them to perform the study. A copy of the letter that we sent to PRB is in your packet and the letter that PRB sent back to us is also in your packet. We must request only one way for them to review the increase. Kit Williams: So I guess you all get to decide which way you want to do it. Mayor Coody: Which one do you all want to ask about? Which one of the five scenarios do you want to focus on and ask PRB to look into? Randy Bradley: Our ultimate goal is number 4, 100% for everyone. Tim Helder: It seems like the big thing was the widow's benefits in my mind that we really wanted to try and change. Jerry Surles: I think that's my opinion too. Mayor Coody: What is the widow's benefit today? Kit Williams: 50%. Is that what it is for widow survivors? Mayor Coody: So what is your recommendation? Kit Williams: Does everyone agree with the 90% for the widows being the scenario that you want to ask for? Jerry Friend: Is that a motion? Tim Helder: That is my recommendation. Sondra Smith: So do you want scenario number 1? Kit Williams: Which is just 90% for a widow, that's the only change? Mayor Coody: 90% for the widows and no change for anyone else. Is that the one you all want to look into? Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 6 of 10 Eldon Roberts: Number 3. If you ask for that, are you asking two things again? Kit Williams: No, I think you can ask for a combination. Randy Bradley moved to approve scenario number 3 to increase the widow's benefits to 90% of the deceased pensioner's salary amount and to increase benefits to 100% of salary for all future and current retirees. Tim Helder seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Kit Williams: I will draft a resolution to that effect and you all will have to sign it. Randy Bradley: Six out of seven board members will have to sign the resolution. Hiring of Attorney for TIF Kit Williams: I am sorry I couldn't get this to you any earlier. The TIF legislation has passed with an emergency clause making it immediately effective. It was probably effective before our last amendment to the project plan. The TIF amendment specifically excluded pension plans, so as long as that law takes effect for you, then your pension plans should be excluded from the TIF district. Therefore, you will not receive any loss. I pointed that out to all three attorneys because I wanted them to be able to calculate that into their estimate of what it might cost to represent you. I felt that would knock the cost down pretty significantly. I think these three are all good attorneys. I included the letters from the attorneys, Mr. Butt, Mr. Odom and Mr. Jim Rose. It is up to this Board and the Fire Pension Board about whom you want to hire. The sooner you make a decision the better. I have a meeting next week and would like your attorney present to stipulate the facts. I don't think there are any factual disputes at all, we just want to get a complete record that we can give the court to make sure they have everything they need to decide this issue. Jerry Friend: Did any of these attorneys put a cap on their fees? Kit Williams: I don't think that any of them put a cap on their fees. They all quoted their hourly rates. You will split this cost with the Fire Pension. Randy Bradley: We can't make a final decision today because we need to consult with the Fire Pension Board. Sondra Smith: They meet Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 11:00 AM. So, if you want to set up a joint meeting on that date we can do that. Kit Williams: I would recommend that you go ahead and make your recommendation. Then if it coincides with theirs, it will be fine and if it doesn't, then you might have to have a joint meeting. Jerry Surles: I think Jim Rose sounds good to me. Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 7 of 10 Mayor Coody: Why don't you go ahead and make a recommendation. Tim Helder moved to hire Jim Rose as the TIF attorney. Jerry Surles seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Kit Williams: I will draft a resolution. New Business Affidavits — Non -Return Sondra Smith: Each year in December we send out affidavits for the pensioner to sign and return to us. The affidavits assure us that you are still eligible to draw benefits. We have a problem with some pensioners not returning the affidavits. We do not have a policy from this Board stating what will happen if they do not return the affidavits. I asked the Fire Pension Board to set a time frame to have the affidavits returned and if not returned, we will send the pensioner a letter stating we will hold their check until we get the affidavit back. One reason that I am concerned about getting them back is that some of these pensioners live out of town so if they decease, we may not know about it. Jerry Friend: I thought it had a date on the affidavit. Sondra Smith: No. It has a deadline for you to return the affidavit, but we have no recourse if they don't return it. Kit Williams: I really think you need to have that as a policy too, just to make sure we are not sending checks when we shouldn't be. Randy Bradley moved that the affidavits must be returned within 60 days and if not returned within that time frame we will hold their check until the affidavits are returned. Jerry Friend seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Sondra Smith: Thank you. That will help us a lot. Randy Bradley: Can we put a note in their checks next month? Sondra Smith: Most of them have returned the affidavits. This time we will just send the ones that have not returned an affidavit a letter and state the policy that this Board has adopted. Kit Williams: Next year Sondra can put that in the letters when she sends them out. Jerry Friend: We shouldn't have to spend money sending four or five notices. Randy Bradley: We need to incorporate that into the affidavits. Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 8 of 10 Sondra Smith: Yes. It takes a lot of time to keep up with who has not returned them and then drafting additional reminder notices. 2005 Elections: Randy Bradley, Tim Helder, and Dr. Mashburn Randy Bradley: I would like to nominate Eldon Roberts to take my place. Mayor Coody: Eldon, if chosen will you agree to serve? Eldon Roberts: Yes, I will. I am very interested. Sondra Smith: Dr. Mashbum, are you interested in serving again? Dr. Mashburn: You bet. Eldon Roberts: The Board members select the doctor don't they? Jerry Friend: Right. Sondra Smith: Tim Helder and Randy Bradley's terms will expire May 31, 2005. Doesn't the Board have a lady that does a telephone poll to select the Board members? Randy Bradley: Yes. Eldon Roberts: Do I have to be nominated by someone? Randy Bradley: Anyone can nominate anyone. Then the person that gets the majority of the votes will serve on the Board, if they are willing to serve. Sondra Smith: Randy, you do not want to serve again, correct? Randy Bradley: I am going to Alaska for a while so no. Sondra Smith: Tim, are you interested in serving again? Tim Helder: Yes. Randy Bradley moved to appoint Dr. Mashburn to serve on the Board another term as the Board's physician. Jerry Friend seconded the motion. The motion passed 6-0. Dr. Mashburn abstained. Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 9 of 10 Willadean Arnold Deceased February 7, 2005 A copy of Ms. Arnold's obituary was given to the Board. Frieda Skelton Deceased March 13, 2005 A copy of Ms. Skelton's obituary was given to the Board. Income Tax Refund Letter Sondra Smith: I received this letter from an attorney. Basically, what the letter says is that there are some funds that you as retirees may qualify for. The information in the letter has to be submitted to the State. Jerry Friend: Is it a class action lawsuit? Sondra Smith: Yes. The information they are requesting, some people do not want given out. I did not want to do anything until a got a recommendation from this Board. Kit Williams: How soon do we need to get the information to them? Sondra Smith: I don't think it states a deadline. Jerry Friend: Kit does this sound like a class action lawsuit? Kit Williams: I'm sure it is. It sounds like you might get a sizable refund. It will not hurt you to go ahead and apply, if you were a retiree during that period of time. Jerry Surles: Does the retiree do this or does the Board do it for them? Kit Williams: I don't think the Board would do it. It might be that you would have to ask the City to get that information for you, unless you have the information. Randy Bradley: I received the same thing from the County and it had to be done individually. A discussion followed on the class action lawsuit. Jerry Friend: 1 don't think we can just hand that information out without asking the retirees. Kit Williams: That would make me nervous to do that. Jerry Friend: It may be our duty to let the pensioners know about the lawsuit. That is all that I would do. Policemen's Pension & Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes April2l, 2005 Page 10 of 10 Sondra Smith: I can send a copy of this letter from the attorney to all the pensioners. Kit Williams: Especially if it is the Board's decision that the individuals handle these themselves. Then if they need help from our Accounting Department, they can contact them. This probably should be done individually. Jerry Friend moved to send the pensioners a copy of the letter from the attorney and let each pensioner handle this lawsuit themselves. Dr. Mashburn seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 5-0. Tim Helder and Mayor Coody were absent during the vote. Parking Tags (Ready for Distribution) The parking permits were handed out. Sondra Smith asked the Board to return their old parking permits. Meeting Adjourned at 2:25 PM