Recapping the PERA Board’s 2025 Planning Session

The Colorado PERA Board of Trustees met in Colorado Springs for its annual September planning session that concluded with a Board meeting on Friday, Sept. 19.

The multi-day planning session is a valuable opportunity for Trustees to engage in more in-depth conversations and planning activities than a typical one-day meeting allows. Below is a summary of some of the highlights and important actions the Board took.

Actuarial modeling

A common activity for the Board during its annual planning session is actuarial modeling. System Actuary Koren Holden, Actuary Bill Detweiler, and the Board’s actuarial consultant, Segal, joined the Trustees to discuss theoretical scenarios and how they might affect the funding of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan. For example, if the investment portfolio experienced losses in future years, or state employment dropped significantly, those events could negatively impact the plan’s progress toward reaching full funding.

This process helps the Board assess the financial health of the trust funds and gauge the possibility of falling behind and triggering the Automatic Adjustment Provision, which automatically raises member and employer contributions and lowers retiree benefit increases based on the plan’s funding progress.

As of December 31, 2024, PERA remains on track to reach full funding, and adjustments are not needed this year or next year.

The Board also discussed the possibility of pursuing legislation that could help reduce the possibility of triggering automatic adjustments in coming years, as outlined in their presentation on a recent study about the Automatic Adjustment Provision and related impacts. We expect to have more information on any proposed bills closer to the start of the next legislative session in January.

Strategic plan update

Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director Andrew Roth and Director of Strategy Annalise Yahne provided an update on staff progress toward implementing PERA’s three-year strategic plan. The plan is a roadmap to strengthen the organization through stronger relationships with members and stakeholders, continued focus on funding, and modernizing technology.

Roth and Yahne walked through what the organization has accomplished so far this year, including building a dashboard to track progress, meeting with various member groups and other stakeholders, and completing a significant amount of groundwork for PERA’s long-term modernization project.

CEM Benchmarking report

The PERA Board receives a report every year from CEM Benchmarking that scores PERA on the quality and cost of services we provide to members and compares those factors to other public pension plans.

PERA earned a service score of 87 for 2024, compared to the peer median score of 81. CEM calculated PERA’s total administrative cost per member at $63, below the peer average of $71. Overall, the CEM report finds PERA provides a higher level of service at lower cost than the average pension plan.

CEM gave PERA particularly high scores in areas such as the accessibility of online services, speed of processing retirements, communications to members approaching retirement, and call wait times.

Health care update

Chief Benefits Officer Patrick Lane and Director of Insurance Jessica Linart discussed the PERACare health benefits program and the state of the health care market. The conversation covered legislative and regulatory changes at the federal level and other challenges that have affected plan premiums over the past decade.

PERACare staff review plan offerings every few years and plan to solicit bids from insurance companies for plan year 2027. Staff sent retirees a survey earlier this year, and the responses from that survey will help inform the selection process.

For more information on 2026 PERACare open enrollment, visit copera.org/peracare-open-enrollment-2026.

Market and portfolio update

Chief Investment Officer/Chief Operating Officer Amy C. McGarrity provided an update on conditions in the financial markets and the overall economy. McGarrity said while it’s been a strong year for public financial markets, there’s still a good deal of uncertainty due to factors such as volatility in the technology sector and the growth of artificial intelligence, geopolitical uncertainties, inflation, and tariffs and trade policy.

On interest rates, McGarrity said there is growing consensus it’s likely the Federal Reserve will cut rates again this year after a slight decrease earlier in September.

PERA benefit statistics

Lane again joined the Board to provide an update on business operations such as retirement processing and customer service interactions. He shared the following statistics, which provide a window into the volume of transactions PERA staff have processed so far in 2025:

• 5,419 new retirements across all five PERA divisions
• 2,404 individual counseling sessions with members nearing retirement
• 1,501 service credit purchases
• 135,300 phone calls to the Customer Service team
• 6:53 average call time
• 21,495 secure email interactions with members

Upcoming Board meetings

The Board’s last regularly scheduled meeting of 2025 is Friday, November 21.

The Board also approved its meeting schedule for 2026:

• January 23
• March 20
• June 18
• September 23-25 (planning session and meeting)
• November 20

Details on upcoming Board meetings and materials from past meetings are available online.