[Ord. 8031, passed 11-29-2012]
(a)
The City of New Castle proposes the following Plan of Administrative
Improvement in investment performance:
(1)
The Board of Trustees of the Comprehensive Municipal Pension
Trust Fund of the City of New Castle ("Trustees") will continue to
manage the investment of assets of all three plans on a combined basis.
The Trustees shall meet no less than quarterly to review investment
performance and related bench marking.
(2)
The Trustees shall periodically review the asset allocation
set forth in the Investment Policy Statement (IPS) to ensure diversification
and to make sure the IPS is keeping with the actuarial interest assumption.
(3)
The Trustees will review the correlation of asset classes and
seek methods to moderate portfolio risk and possibly augment performance.
(b)
The Trustees shall regularly review the liquidity requirements of
the Fund.
(1)
The Trustees will review the structure of and the investments
in the Comprehensive Trust checking account to see if the account
structure can be improved.
(c)
An improved projection of future cash flow requirements:
(1)
The qualified actuary of the City pension plans shall continue
to develop in the actuarial valuations cash receipts and disbursements
of each plan. The valuation shall include a forecast of the City minimum
municipal obligation as well as the ratio of the actuarial liability
to the actuarial value of plan assets.
(2)
The City and qualified actuary shall meet no less than twice
during each valuation cycle to review all actuarial assumptions and
methods including the selection of the expected long-term rate of
return, salary projections and mortality in order to ensure the City
meets its intended funding objective.
(3)
Absent the occurrence of unpredictable adverse experience, the
funding objective of the City will be to improve the funding level
of the plans in accordance with the provisions of the Act 47 Recovery
Plan.
(4)
With each valuation cycle the City shall receive the qualified
actuary's opinion regarding the effect on future funding requirements
of the voluntary remedies that decrease the minimum municipal obligation.
(d)
Other steps for administrative improvement:
(1)
The deposit of mandatory member contributions into the Fund
as soon as administratively feasible following the withholding of
these amounts from the members' pay.
(2)
The City shall deposit on a monthly basis as much of the minimum
municipal obligation from January through September each fiscal year
as its financial situation permits. Upon receipt of state aid, the
City shall deposit in October the balance of the fiscal year's
minimum municipal obligation as soon as is administratively and financially
feasible.
(3)
In the next round of collective bargaining, the City will consider
for presentation in bargaining, changes that could help the financial
status of the pension plans such as those set forth in the Act 47
Recovery Plan, including a new hires plan for newly hired employees
that will provide a lesser benefit than current employees enjoy.
(4)
Upon the retirement of any participant, the City shall institute
a plan to ensure that the initial benefit calculation is checked for
accuracy by a responsible City official that was not involved with
the initial calculation. When the amount of any retirement benefit
has changed, the City shall institute a plan to have the benefit calculation
checked for accuracy by a City official that was not involved with
the original calculation.
(5)
The City will institute a program to regularly sample benefit
checks to ensure that they match the underlying retirement calculations.
(6)
The City will institute a program to periodically review the
eligibility of beneficiaries (surviving spouses and surviving children)
to ensure that these beneficiaries have remained eligible for benefit
payments.
(7)
The City shall review recent Auditor General audit reports to
ensure that any findings or observations have been adequately addressed.
(8)
The City shall regularly review all costs associated with maintenance
of the Trust.
(9)
The City shall ensure that any new contracts for professional
services are let in compliance with Act 44 of 2009.
(10)
The City shall review Act 44 disclosure forms and take appropriate
action to address any conflicts of interest.
(11)
The City shall continue to look for ways to automate/computerize
administrative functions.
(12)
The City shall discuss regularly with the Act 47 team and pension
counsel initiatives to improve the funded status of the Plans.
(13)
The City shall periodically perform a self-assessment of its
efforts to improve the administrative functions of the Plans.
(14)
The City will continue to maintain the qualified status of the
Plan under the Internal Revenue Code.
