Public Employees Retirement System requests early compliance audit and accepts preliminary budget

Tyler Cummings, interim director of the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems (NPERS), told the Appropriations Committee that NPERS administers seven retirement plans covering more than 175,000 members and that total plan assets are approximately $23 billion (invested by the Nebraska Investment Council).

Cummings said NPERS paid roughly $1.3 billion in retirement distributions last year and that the agency is largely cash‑funded by plan fees and assets. He told the committee NPERS is satisfied with the committee’s preliminary budget but asked for one additional item: $315,000 in additional spending authority for a legal compliance audit required by statute to be completed by December 2028.

Cummings asked that the audit be done earlier in the next biennium and said the request was split across the two fiscal years in the agency’s original budget submission (approximately $157,500 per year). He said the agency had experienced administrative efficiency (pointing to low administrative cost ratios in an NASRA study) and that conducting the compliance review sooner would be prudent, particularly because NPERS recently assumed administration of the Omaha School Retirement Plan and federal changes (Secure 2.0 Act) affect compliance considerations.

Committee members asked about the scope and frequency of the compliance audit. Cummings said the most recent compliance audit was completed in 2020 and that statutory timing allows a compliance audit to be done on a schedule in the 4–10 year range but the statutory deadline for the next audit is December 2028.

NPERS said it would proceed with the requested audit schedule if the committee approves the additional spending authority.