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SFERS Pension Plan

The SFERS Pension Plan is a qualified defined benefit plan funded through employee and employer contributions and investment earnings. The Plan provides for its members, service retirement benefits calculated using a formula based on Age at Retirement, Years of Service, and Final Compensation.

The SFERS Pension Plan provides for the following benefits upon separation: service and disability retirement; refund, or vesting allowance/deferred retirement election; and pre-and post-retirement survivor benefits. Select the appropriate member group (below) to get detailed provisions for each type of benefit (MiscellaneousSafetySheriff, or Miscellaneous Safety).

Funding

Each year, the Retirement System conducts an actuarial valuation of its assets and liabilities in order to assess the funded status of the System and to determine appropriate levels of City contributions to the Fund for the next Fiscal Year. Plan assets are valued using a 5-year smoothing of investment return greater than or less than the expected investment return, 7.40%, effective as of July 1, 2018.

The actuarial funding methods used are:

Entry Age Normal Cost method
Unfunded liability due to changes in active member benefits amortized as a level percentage of payroll over a closed 15-year period, and any changes to inactive or retired member benefits amortized over a closed 5-year period
Unfunded liability due to actuarial gains and losses, assumption changes, and miscellaneous items amortized as a level percentage of payroll over a closed 20-year period

The Retirement System takes great pride in maintaining a level of assets necessary to meet the promise of providing benefits for its members into perpetuity. With prudent investment strategies and annual actuarial valuations, SFERS has sustained history of sufficient funding levels to meet benefit obligations over many years.

SFERS Annual Funded Status
Periods as of July 1

YearFunded Ratio
(rounded to the nearest %)
2021112
202090
201988
201887
201786
201685
201586
201485
201381
201283