In January, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors appointed Joel Engardio, Supervisor of District 4, as a Trustee to the SFERS board. POB President Fred Sanchez was on hand at the Feb. 14, 2024 SFERS meeting, where he welcomed the new trustee in person. Sanchez expressed how much he was looking forward to work with Engardio on behalf of San Francisco’s 36,000 city and county retirees.
The SFERS Total Plan assets now stand at $34.5 billion. Remember, SFERS assets don’t always reflect the Stock Market because SFERS is looking for long term stability therefore we are much steadier in our increases.
At the meeting, the trustees approved the 2% basic COLA for miscellaneous and tier 2 public safety employees. The actual Consumer Price index rose 2.6%, which means it was rounded up to 3%. As a result, 1% will be stored in the COLA Bank to offset the years that the basic COLA might fall below the 2%.
Fiscal year performance for total assets is what triggers the Supplemental COLA being approved. Currently, the first 7 months of the FY performance is at 3.72%. It is impossible to predict at this time if the target discount rate of 7.2% will be reached, after all current liabilities are met.
The 2024-25 and 2025-26 budget was approved. Four new staffing positions were added to retirement service. Also SFERS has taken steps to strengthen its cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) functions to protect SFERS investments, a very wise decision.
Remember that 100% of the funding for SFERS comes from their independent budget. No funds come from the San Francisco General Fund.
