Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Needham retirement board reviews 2025 actuarial valuation, delays vote on funding schedule while weighing COLA options
Summary
Actuary for the Town of Needham presented a Jan. 1, 2025 snapshot showing an unfunded liability of about $66.1 million, modest recommended assumption changes and three funding-schedule options; the board deferred adopting a schedule and will reconvene before the Oct. 31 filing deadline to consider a possible COLA base increase.
The Town of Needham Retirement Board on Oct. 15 reviewed a Jan. 1, 2025 actuarial valuation showing the system—s unfunded liability fell to about $66.1 million and discussed funding-schedule options, administrative-cost assumptions and whether to raise the pension cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) base. The board took no final vote and agreed to reconvene before Oct. 31 so the administrator and the town—s account manager can review schedules and any COLA proposal.
The actuarial presentation, delivered by Linda of KMS (the board—s actuary), compared the 2025 snapshot with results through Jan. 1, 2024 and noted asset gains for calendar 2024. The retirement system—s market assets rose during the year, and the smoothing method the actuary uses recognizes only 20% of the most recent gain in the actuarial value of assets. That smoothing produced an actuarial value close to market value while tempering appropriation swings.
KMS reported the plan—s assets were roughly $275 million in the most recent PRIM reporting and that actuarial assumptions now include a 6.25% long-term investment return. KMS recommended…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
