Del Norte supervisors approve transfer of OPEB assets from CalPERS SERP into PARS 115 trust after public questions

Del Norte County’s Board of Supervisors on an otherwise routine agenda voted unanimously to authorize the county administrative officer to send certification letters to CalPERS requesting liquidation and a trustee-to-trustee transfer of the county’s post-employment benefits assets from the CalPERS SERP into the Public Agencies Post-Employment Benefits Trust administered by PARS.

The action followed a 40-minute presentation from Matt Spooner of Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS), who described PARS’s 115 trust as a vehicle for pre-funding pension and OPEB (other post-employment benefits) liabilities and said the program gives counties “access to an investment professional” through PFM Asset Management and a trustee relationship with U.S. Bank. “Just to be clear what I’m not here to do today is to propose a change in your pension program which you currently have with CalPERS,” Spooner told the board.

Why it matters: Del Norte officials and PARS presented the transfer as a step to reduce the county’s…