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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-07-19 MinutesLioneld Jordan Chairman Sondra E. Smith Treasurer Fave e Eldon Roberts Secretary/Retired Position 1 ARKANSAS Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Agenda July 19, 2012 Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 1 of 13 Jerry Friend Retired Position 2 Tim Helder Retired Position 3 Melvin Stanley Retired Position 4 Frank Johnson Retired Position 5 A meeting of the Fayetteville Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees was held on July 19, 2012 at 3:00 PM in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order. PRESENT: Frank Johnson, Eldon Roberts, Melvin Stanley, Tim Helder, Jerry Friend, Mayor Jordan, Kit Williams, City Attorney, Paul Becker, Finance and Internal Services Director, Sondra Smith, City Clerk, Lisa Branson, Deputy City Clerk, Trish Leach, Accounting, Kim Cooper, Longer Investments. ABSENT: None Approval of the Minutes: Approval of the April 19, 2012 meeting minutes Jerry Friend moved to approve the April 19, 2012 meeting minutes. Tim Helder seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Pension List Changes: Patsy Ruth Little deceased June 18, 2012 Approval of the Pension List: Re -approval of the July pension list (Patsy Ruth Little deceased) Sondra Smith: Since she deceased in June we had already approved the July pension list so we need to re -approve the July pension list and remove her from the list. Jerry Friend moved to approve the Revised July pension list. Eldon Roberts seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 2 of 13 Approval of the August, September, October 2012 pension lists Sondra Smith: At this time there are no changes to those lists. Eldon Roberts moved to approve the August, September and October pension lists. Tim Helder seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. New Business: Revenue & expense report Sondra Smith: That's the report that Accounting does for the Board to give them a review of their expenses and revenue. Eldon Roberts: On 2010 and 2011 the very last numbers on those columns, because they are not in parenthesis am I lead to believe we finished? How could that have possibly happened? Tim Helder: It says in parentheses loss, those two columns don't show in parenthesis. Trish Leach: The market came back the next few years and in those two years the market came back enough that it offset. Eldon Roberts: I thought we had been in red all along there ever since 2008 or even before. Paul Becker: That's when they marked the market and they adjust to what the value of the market is. That's going to change over time and fluctuate but it was positive last year. Obviously if you look back in 2008 there was a $2 million dollar loss because the loss is backwards, that's going to go up and down but it all depends, you can't trade that all at once but it was positive last year. Eldon Roberts: For this year up to this point in time we're $360,000 behind. Paul Becker: $360,000 behind but that's stop marking to market. That's not the exact value overage the portfolio would at this point in time. This year you're up about 2.6% so you might be somewhere close. If you remember Eldon the last time we attended the PRB meeting and we just got recent figures. Premium taxes are going to be less this year than they were last year. That's going to put a strain on the system too. They readjusted how it is distributed. Jerry Friend: Which bothers us. Paul Becker: I can certainly understand. Melvin Stanley: Who made that decision? Paul Becker: That was legislation, approved it and went forward came from PRB actuary. The net result of it is those funds that are in worse positions are getting little more because they are Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 3 of 13 worse position. You are correct, they are in worse position probably because some decisions were made that that are a little bit more prudent. Sondra Smith: The main person that pushed that forward that I remember was Mayor Moles from Harrison, who is no longer the mayor. Paul Becker: It did a couple of things. One of the things it did was to change the premium tax distribution to try to equalize what the cities got with the percentage they pay, which it did successfully. One of the other issues is they have two rounds of distributions. The first round of distribution they make and the second one is based on what the actual position of your fund is. They do a third distribution from a guaranteed fund and access to the guarantee fund there was a little more money this year. However, as things went around the biggest distribution by the time they played it all out went to those funds that were under stress. That did not help you positively. Eldon Roberts: How much did Little Rock increase? They went to a million dollars or more. I don't remember what they were drawing prior to that but they really got a boost. Jerry Friend: I thought they passed a tax. Eldon Roberts: They did on top of that and marked an amount of that to go the pension but they also got a big boost from this insurance turn back. They went to a million dollars. Paul Becker: That's where the largest amount of the money went. I believe their distribution was probably almost that much of an increase. The City of Fayetteville gained a little but when we combine all of the money we got from premium taxes. Jerry Friend: Would it help if we all went to the next meeting? Paul Becker: They are open meetings and if you have something to say. Jerry Friend: I have a problem with that thinking because you said what little it is is not going to save the fund anyway. Why take away from some and give to others. Kit Williams: Don't they concentrate on the funds that are in the worst shape and that's where it gets the most money? Paul Becker: The way they did the distribution before didn't really address that. The distribution before said everybody got a minimum percentage of what they use to get back in 1999. By the time all of those distributions were gone it was suppose to distributed your actuarial evaluation where you stood but there was no money by the time you got to that. When they changed it and took what was called a minimum percentage out of the legislation that changed the whole mix of the way they did it. Now it comes down to those in worse shape end up getting more. Unfortunately it didn't help your fund. Trish is it about $80,000 less they will get this year? Trish Leach: That sound about right. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 4 of 13 Paul Becker: We just saw these numbers yesterday. Over the year you're going to be about $80,000 less. That certainly helps out but that not going to make or break a plan one way or another. Melvin Stanley: It would make or break the fire plan either. Paul Becker: That's correct. Sondra Smith: A copy of everything that we got in the letters is in your packet. So you can see the difference. Paul Becker: Eldon and Pete go religiously. I'm normally at all of the meetings and I'm not usually bashfully about making a few comments. It is an open meeting if you want to go down and make a few comments. Frank Johnson: What was the original legislative intent? How did it gain some much favor that it was passed? Paul Becker: Because it was an unfair distribution. That's where it went. What was looked at was how the distributions were to cities as a whole. It said what Fayetteville was getting we might get 37% of our costs. There were small cities who would get 100% of their costs at one time so, between the LOPFI and the old pension plans, didn't cost those cities anything where the other cities it did. Those referenced were cities like Fort Smith, Fayetteville and Little Rock. So as city of the whole were getting our fair share on that method of the distribution. That was changed to address that and we're hearing cities come forward down there now saying wait a minute we use to not pay anything and now we have to pay things. I was trying to remember which city that was. Eldon Roberts: Russellville. Paul Becker: That was meant to equalize that. That was the primary intent and that was changed and that will change but the time it is all done. Problem is the method that they are redistributing it under is going favor the unfunded plans. This is an off shot to what the original intent was. Eldon Roberts: That might change again too because I've been familiar with insurance turn back ever since it was conceived and about every legislative session the formula gets moved around and changed and how they distribute because it is highly political. Frank Johnson: What was the Municipal Leagues position on it? Paul Becker: Municipal League supported the legislation. I'm going to repeat third hand what I'm hearing other Mayor's say down there. They didn't realize what the impact was going to be because the numbers of winners of losers across the city are disproportioned. Most of the cities are getting less than they got before. A few are getting more, we're getting a little more but Little Rock is the one that got the most. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 5 of 13 Melvin Stanley: How does the division come down? You're saying it goes to cities and ends up being different because of the percentages that they paid before. How does it end up with us in the same city? Paul Becker: Because one plan is in worse shape than the other. Melvin Stanley: That had to be completely different than the original intent where you said cities like Fayetteville paid 37%. That would have nothing to do with the plans themselves. That had to come in some place. Paul Becker: It does have to do with the plans. First part of it falls out with how the premium tax is distributed for each. When it comes with the premium tax distribution the fire is one pool and police is another pool. To say the fire department took it directly from the police is not really true. The entire condition of the police funds and the entire condition of the fire fund. The fire is coming from the property tax. The police are basically coming from automobiles. Eldon Roberts: What we lost, gave up or was taken from us went to help another police department somewhere. Paul Becker: It went to another plan that was funded less than you were. Eldon Roberts: But a police plan. Jerry Friend: When is the next meeting? Eldon Roberts: September 6th. Guys you're welcome to come down there and talk all you want to because we see a lot of people come down and talk but it doesn't change the law. We would all be better off talking to our local politician's that go down there and vote on it because that is where the rubber meets to road. You can talk and voice your concerns down there for the way things are being done and they let you talk because it's a public meeting but then that's it. Frank Johnson: It all comes down to the influencing. The power of how you influence is based on political capital. If there's anything that happens down there it has to be a collective effort. Eldon Roberts: I've been going for the last couple years and Paul is always there, we're not all that big on how everything happens but it's out of your control. Paul Becker: What you are saying is correct probably the best move would be to contact your legislatures before they go down there. I'm certainly getting a sense that you're going to see some proposals to change the method of distribution. Eldon Roberts: There will be some proposals put out there. Then we will need to find out what they are and then we need to contact our people and say push this. Paul Becker: Mayors on the PRB are saying that they didn't realize. Eldon Roberts: That's what I was going to say when you said Mayors are finding out now what the impact is. A couple of them are on the Pension Review Board that voted for this. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 6 of 13 Paul Becker: Certainly once the legislature before they go they listen and they did input. We will certainly give input and I would be happy to put forward anything that you might want. I know Lioneld certainly will. Sondra Smith: You also have Don Marr. He was serving on the Public Safety Board I don't know if he still is for Municipal League and all those bills come before that board. If there is something that you are opposed to you, you need to talk to him and tell him if that comes forward your not in favor of it. There are several boards like large first class cities and pubic safety board that vote whether or not they want Municipal League to support that and it's the majority of those boards that make that decision on it going forward or not going forward. Paul Becker: One thing I should make clear also when I said the money that the cities are paying that is the cities of the plan. There was an unfair distribution to your plan too. Melvin Stanley: You said it was an $80,000 a year difference? Paul Becker: Roughly, you're not going to see that on the financials yet because we haven't collected anything yet. Melvin Stanley: Looking at the last pension boards notes you said "well you'd be a little bit better but we are not talking much, we are talking $20, 000 to $25, 000. " Paul Becker: Correct, I just saw the final numbers. Sondra Smith: Last year you all got a total counting the future supplement and everything $271,155.53. This year you got $222,997.77. Your main chunk that you usually get that doesn't go out to the pensioners but that goes into your plan last year was $205,694.53 and this year was $103,808.08. We got an additional check too that is probably because of this redistribution for $34,602.69. Paul Becker: We hadn't seen the final distribution when we were down there, we saw the preliminary. Frank Johnson: As a matter of what this board does, I'm wondering how we get in front of all of this just thinking about the speed of the legislative process and how things pop and be considered and then boom. Eldon Roberts: When you and I were at the police department there is always legislation proposed and we try to keep abreast of that and different police organizations would call us or send it to us. I guess Don probably gets the same things that have to do with pension systems and what all but we would be better off is once all the proposal are out there for this new legislation when we all pick and choose the one we think will best benefit us then we need to send a letter from this board not just one person to our local senators and representatives saying we strongly support Act so and so or whatever they call them that you vote for that when it comes up. Frank Johnson: I think that's a good idea. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 7 of 13 Eldon Roberts: We have to wait and see what proposals are made but there will be some. In affect to this insurance turn back there will be some new proposals. Frank Johnson: Is there a calendar that maps out the dates when these things are coming up to be considered and reviewed? Paul Becker: Go out to their website, just put Arkansas LOPFI and that will take you to their website and there will be a list for PRB and LOPFI and you can look at their agenda. About two weeks before the meetings they post their agenda. When they get in there they will start talking about legislative changes. Quick calculation $67,280.40 you will be getting less into the plan. Eldon Roberts: When is the next legislative session? Paul Becker: Next year. Elson Roberts: This coming year 2013. Paul Becker: Probably at the next meeting they will start talking or by the 4th quarter. Lioneld Jordan: Municipal League votes on all those proposals. There is a big stack of those. Jerry Friend: They have already had the meeting? Kit Williams: Sometimes there are changed too. A few years ago they changed one that was going to be very disadvantages to the City as they changed it they had to rely upon Uvalde Lindsley and other representatives to stop it because they didn't realize what they were doing and bad it was going to be for the City of Fayetteville. What the original proposal was didn't include it, they changed it. Lioneld Jordan: There are a lot of things that I do that you all don't even know that we are doing. All of those bills come to me and I look at those every week. Lindsley is the liaison to us and the legislators down there. I take positions and send letters but keep in mind that is just one mayor from one city. Sondra Smith: The people that are on the Public Service Board that I was telling you about that Don with the Arkansas Municipal League, most of the guys that are setting on there are fire and police pensioners. They are going to try to wangle things the way they need to be done. There was a lot of argument and discussion about changing that allocation. I was in one of those meetings and there was a lot of discussion about it. One of the statements I made was you can change the distribution and the allocation but you don't know what it is going to do to each individual fund. Lioneld Jordan: When this came up I said the City of Fayetteville is going to get less than I'm not going to be supportive of it. Jerry Friend: You're saying the first distribution they changed it based more on if Fayetteville collected this much they get back a percentage of that. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 8 of 13 Paul Becker: In the old days they had what they called a fixed percentage. They went back to whatever the percentage was in 1999. Some of these very small towns and I think it's easier to see on the fire side, they were geographically large when they were back in that plan they getting 130% of what their pension cost was. They were getting more than the pension costs. They moved legislation and said we are going to change that so people aren't getting more than they need so were going to distribute that to people who do need it. My guess is there was a compromise and the way they got that through was to say you can't get more than 100% but we are going guarantee you whatever you get in a percent at this point in time is this percent and that's what you will get first. On the second pass the neediest ones will get more, well you never got the second pass. That's the problem. Funds were going, and Russellville was one of them I believe that was getting over 100%. Now they are coming in saying we have to pay and we didn't. That's what it was correct. It did that but there were some other methods on there that now went and changed up more to distribute to those pension plans under funded. What it essentially did was correct one problem and not the other. Yours wasn't impacted because overall look at the LOPFI side the City of Fayetteville benefited a little bit. They will hash this out again. If you go out to their website you can see what's going on and when the legislative session comes on if anyone is interested in following these bills through we will show the websites and how to get there. Pension Review Board (PRB) letter dated June 5, 2012 - Evaluating Local Plan Investments Kit Williams: I wrote to you about that that if the fund which is currently at $7.8 million and if it dips below $5 million then you all have some extreme restrictions on what you can purchase, not what you can hold. We went through this with the fire. There was some confusion and I had some confusion about whether or not they could even hold stocks that they already owned because it says you can only have money, cash federal and state bonds. No low mutual funds. The Attorney General and the PRB Board said no, you can't buy anymore but you can hold what you have. Longer Investments felt like they could not manage the fund anymore at that point because they wanted to more than hold and wanted to be able to trade but you can't trade. Eventually you are probably going to a place where you are going to be getting close to $5 million. At that point you probably should look very closely about what you have because you are about to your final purchases on things that can generate more money than T Bills and other stuff. Then I would recommend when you go below $5 million I think Longer will probably resign again and you will have to hire someone else. You will probably want to stand pat there for awhile because you will probably be in the best shape from a money making point of view that you can be. As you have to sell stocks you can never buy stock again. As you have to sell some of these other investments that Longer has gotten you into that have been paying very well you can't ever get those again. When you hit that point you probably should not do much more trading because the only thing you can buy back are investments that are very safe but do not pay very much but you're not there yet. Hopefully it will be a long time until you get there. Eldon Roberts: It only takes one more year like 2008. Kit Williams: Who knows what is going to happen. I've gone through a lot of cash myself. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 9 of 13 Eldon Roberts: Elaine wasn't here today but far from truthful to say she is not aware of what has happened with the fire department and that we might be going there. We are far enough away yet from the $5 million that I think it is business as usual and we need to be that way because that is how we are making the most money. Kit Williams: I only thing that you might want to look at that would be done differently then than it would now is that you might go for some long term corporate bonds. She likes to keep them fairly short so she has more maneuvers but there at the end if corporate bonds are paying a much better percentage than T Bills then she might want to go for some longer term corporate bonds so you can enjoy that interest longer before it's over. City Attorney letter dated June 12, 2012 — Response to the Pension Review Board (PRB) letter dated June 5, 2012 Mayor Jordan: Is that what you just covered? Kit Williams: Yes sir. City Clerk letter dated July 9, 2012 - 2012 supplemental benefits Sondra Smith: That's the letter I sent out to everyone letting them know that their July check was going be short and I sent everyone an email yesterday letting you know we received the turn back funds. Accounting is going to go ahead and cut special checks. Trish Leach: We did and they went out today. Sondra Smith: The $50 you were short in July was added to this special check. Your August check should be normal. Eldon Roberts: So you're sending an extra check. Trish Leach: Yes, the $50 and the future supplement. If you're on direct deposit we direct deposited it. Eldon Roberts: We appreciate that. Sondra Smith: Eldon the total amount of the check you should receive is $1,285 and $50 for July. Eldon Roberts: And the $1235. Sondra Smith: Yes. Trish Leach: Sondra and I had talked about it because we were concerned. Some of the pensioners are older and we want them to watch for it so if you talk to someone share with them to watch their mailbox and take it to the bank. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 10 of 13 Sondra Smith: If it is a live check because if you have direct deposit it will be direct deposited. If you get a live check it will be a live check. City Clerk memo dated July 18, 2012 - 2012 turn back funds from the State of Arkansas State of Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration — turn back letter and copies of the turn back checks June 2012 Sondra Smith: That's a copy of everything that we received from the State. We received the checks and it tells about the distribution amount and monthly amount. Board election results — Frank Johnson and Jerry Friend elected New pension board list Sondra Smith: This is the new list showing your term end dates. If you have any changes that need to be made please let us know. Lisa has that on our website so if you have any address changes or phone number changes let us know. Discussion Items: LOPFI Sondra Smith: I have been asked to leave that on the agenda each quarter. Pension Board communication with the City Council Sondra Smith: That was brought up at one of our meetings about maybe talking to the City Council about LOPFI and the plan. You all don't have to do it; I was just asked to put that on the agenda. Frank Johnson: It generates this awkward thing as a reminder that at some point that might have to be an avenue we have to take. It seems like it's the communication that needs to be had at some level if even incrementally at some point instead of just coming in saying we need to know where you stand on it. Eldon Roberts: There are too many funds out there that are so much worse off than we are that that's all going to be ironed out. I'm glad we can just sit back and wait and see. We will know where we stand and what we can and can't do and what to expect and what not to except when we get to that point where we can no longer pay our pensioners. That's going to be settled some other way. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 11 of 13 Longer Investments: Northern Trust letter dated June 11, 2012 A copy was given to the Board Longer Investments 2nd quarter 2012 report A copy was given to the Board Longer View A copy was given to the Board Longer Investments monthly report Kim Cooper: Elaine is at an investment conference. She and I went through the package so I have her comments to deliver to you along with the information on the reports. I included in the package a copy of our newsletter that was sent out in June and the update we sent in early July. Page one of the report is a portfolio appraisal that shows what you currently hold. You have 44% common stocks that are currently yielding 4.02%. That is more than twice the yield on the ten year treasury. Your other income securities we use those to supplement your income on the account. Their high income stocks and funds like utility stocks that allow us to get a little bit higher yield for you. Those are yielding 5.27%. When you add that into your equities you are above the 50% level so we need an approval to be at that level. Eldon Roberts moved to approve the equity overage. Jerry Friend seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Continuing on page one and then the second page is the fixed income mutual funds. Those are yielding 3.67%. We hold the seven to ten year treasury bonds fund and view that as a cash equivalent to us. It's currently yielding about 2.2% compared to zero in your money market funds. If we want to use cash in the portfolio over and above what we have we can use that as cash equivalent. Page two your preferred debt is the two GE preferred debt securities, those are yielding 6.27%. The government bonds are yielding 4.05%. That's based on your cost over the time that we've them the bonds have appreciated 16% but if at some point interest rates do start going up again then we will have to give up some of that gain on it. The government agency, the Federal Farm Credit that is a 6 1/8 coupon we have three more years before that matures. It's yielding 6.13% and there is not any call risk in that. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 12 of 13 You current cash level is 4.2% of portfolio. With that bond fund in there it is closer to 9%. The final item listed is Limited Partnerships. The Kinder Morgan Limited Partnership is something that we are also using for income on the account. You total portfolio value is $7,876,000 and the yield is 4.05%. That's even with more than 50% of it invested in growth. Page three is your income and realized gains. The realized gains through June 30th were about $80,000 in limited income which is the interest in dividends that you've earned less expenses is $103,000. Page four is a summary of your fixed income holdings. Your average yield to maturity is currently at 4.4% which is the same level that it was at year end. Even though yields have declined significantly this year, your yield has stayed at the same level. That is because we have had a few short maturity bonds that have rolled off but you have below average reinvestment risk. Page five is summary of your performance since inception. The stocks that had performed so well last year, the defensive high dividend stocks that we had focused on have under performed the bottom market for the first half of the year. We discussed that in the newsletter that you have but we still believe it's important to adhere to the conservative stance that we've had throughout last year and this year. We've got a lot to overcome between now and year end; a slowing economy that could further increase unemployment but also add earnings risk into the equation. The eurozone headline risk will continue, the fiscal cliff that Elaine addressed in the newsletter, that's still news and we see no serious attempts to address it at this point. We are going into a very volatile election season. International tensions related to Syria and Iran and it doesn't feel prudent right now to extend your risk out further until we get more clarification on some of these variables that we are watching. Your fixed income performance has out performed stocks this year. It's at 3.4% and that compares to last year which was at 9.4%. The compound and annual return on the entire portfolio is 6.2%. That is above the 6% actuary assumption that was in place at the time we started managing the account. Right now the actuarial assumption has been reduced to 5% but we are still exceeding the 6%. Your compound annualized return is 6.2%. Page six is the contribution and withdrawals. We've had a deposit to money market for a class action lawsuit for $7.00. The withdrawals through the first half of the year have been $496,000. If you look at that at an annual rate based on your beginning value, that's going to come to 15% per year even though your portfolio is not in the shape as the Fire Pension was in when we were managing it. The distribution rate is still not sustainable at this level. Page seven is an asset reconciliation. Distributions since inception have been $9.2 million. Your investment return has been $7.87 million. The bottom line is that it's important to know that even though we have met those actuarial assumptions it's just the weight of the distributions that are making the portfolio not be in line with your actuarial assumption. Mayor Jordan: So you have 15% going out and 6% coming in. Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 19, 2012 Page 13 of 13 Kim Cooper: No, not 6% coming in. That 6% is your annual compounded rate of return for the last 22 years that we have been managing the account. Mayor Jordan: So right now its seven what? Kim Cooper: Your year to date return has been 2.6%. That's the total return on page five. Jerry Friend: The 15% we're losing each time includes what is coming in. Kim Cooper: If there are additional funds that are coming in. There haven't been any contributions since the first of the year other than the small class action suit. The distribution rate based on what went out in the first half of the year; if we annualized that it would be at 15%. We also have a copy for you of your investment policy. Jerry Friend: Nothing has changed? Kim Cooper: Nothing has changed. It's just a copy that you all signed back in October. Does anyone have any questions? Informational: 2012 Meeting schedule Eldon Roberts: The next meeting is October 18th Kit Williams: I think I might be out of town then. Meeting Adjourned at 3:55 PM