The pension fund’s executive director delivered a state‑of‑the‑fund presentation intended to frame an upcoming strategic planning process and to orient trustees to key financial and demographic trends.

The presentation summarized plan inputs (employer and member contributions, investment returns) and outflows (benefits and operating expenses), and emphasized that investment returns have been the largest single input in recent years. Staff said the combined police and fire plan assets were approximately $5.8 billion and the Federated plan approximately $3.5 billion (combined ~ $9.9 billion) as of the most recent reporting period discussed. The director highlighted that 2024 investment returns were a major contributor to plan funding and stressed trustees’ influence over expenses, investment policy and some actuarial assumptions.

Staff reviewed long‑term trends: increases in active, inactive and retired membership over the last decade, the shift toward Tier 2 members, and sensitivity of the funding ratio to changes in the discount rate. The director also cited research (NCPRS) showing pension benefit spending drives local economic activity and presented normalized funding‑ratio comparisons to illustrate how discount‑rate assumptions affect seemingly comparable funded percentages.

Aon then outlined its strategic‑planning process and timetable: Aon will schedule one‑on‑one trustee interviews and select stakeholder surveys (unions, retiree associations, city leadership and key service providers), produce findings, propose 5–7 prioritized goals and work with staff on implementation plans and performance metrics. Aon recommended a rolling 3–5 year plan with annual refreshes and regular reporting to the board. Trustees asked about timing; Aon suggested goals could be returned to the board by late 2025 or early 2026 depending on outreach response rates.

Trustees asked clarifying questions about total assets, peer groups and how police/fire and Federated plans would be coordinated in a single plan; Aon and staff said they expect many common goals across plans but will capture any plan‑specific priorities during interviews.