County committee considers technical amendments to 2011 hybrid pension plan to align with IRS and new vendor

New Castle County finance staff brought Ordinance 25-082 to the Administrative Finance Committee on July 8 to amend Chapter 26 of the New Castle County Code concerning the county’s 2011 pension plan. The amendments are technical and intended to reconcile plan provisions with the Internal Revenue Code and with the plan administration practices of the county’s new vendor, Empower.

Jill Flori, the county chief financial officer, explained there were two related pieces: changes touching the deferred-compensation side and changes to the pension side of the hybrid plan. She said differences in prior processing and the vendor’s review required updates so that the plan design would be compliant and could be administered smoothly under the new contract. Stephanie Skola from the Office of Finance said the revisions align the 401(k)-match portion of the hybrid plan and permit the county to make match contributions on a weekly or biweekly basis rather than waiting for a single annual lump-sum contribution.

Skola told the committee the pension-board reviewed and recommended the pension piece. Committee members raised no objections and no public comments were recorded at the July 8 meeting. The transcript does not show a final committee vote or adoption on the same date.

Why it matters: bringing plan documents into compliance with the Internal Revenue Code is a routine but necessary step for plan administration and for ensuring that vendor contracts and contribution timing conform with tax-qualification rules.