PERSAC adopts 2025 actuarial valuations, recommends lower minimum employer rates for multiple Louisiana retirement systems

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Public Retirement System Actuarial Committee on Feb. 23 adopted the 2025 actuarial valuations and related 2025 experience studies for a suite of state and statewide retirement systems, and recommended minimum net direct employer contribution rates for fiscal 2027 that are generally lower than current board‑adopted rates.

Mr. Curran, the committee’s presenter on valuations, opened the meeting by telling members, “All the news today is gonna be pretty good,” and walked the committee through each system’s valuation, investment returns, funding‑deposit account balances and recommended minimum rates. Mr. Herbold, the committee reviewer, repeatedly told members he and his office “did not identify any significant deficiencies” in the reporting or valuation bases they reviewed.

Why it matters: several plans reported strong market returns in 2025 and investment gains that lowered actuarial costs, which together with payroll growth and changes to actuarial assumptions reduced the recommended minimum employer contribution rates the committee certified. Those minimums guide, but do not bind, boards of trustees; boards retain statutory authority to set employer rates between the certified minimum and the current board‑adopted rate.

Key outcomes and numbers at a glance

- Clerk of Court Retirement Relief Fund: recommended minimum net direct employer contribution rate for fiscal 2027 of 14.75%; funding deposit account balance reported just over $12 million (up about $5 million); funded ratio just above 88%; frozen unfunded accrued liability scheduled to be paid off by 2029. Motion to adopt the valuation and experience study passed without objection.

- District Attorney Retirement System (DARS): recommended minimum 3.0% for fiscal 2027; funded ratio ~93.17%; funding deposit account ~$5.8 million; investment gains roughly $11.5 million. Motion to adopt passed without objection.

- Firefighters Retirement System (FRS): recommended minimum 25.5% for fiscal 2027; market return ~11.7% (actuarial smoothing ~8.3%); investment gains about $35.7 million; frozen UAL reported at about $386 million with nine years remaining on scheduled payments. Mr. Curran highlighted a statutory change moving DROP from a 3‑year to a 5‑year period effective April 2026. Motion to adopt passed without objection.

- Municipal Employees Retirement System (MERS) Plan A & B: recommended minimums for fiscal 2027 of 20.75% (Plan A) and 8.75% (Plan B); Plan A faces membership decreases tied to Lafayette consolidated government enrolling in a different system; funding deposit account balances and prior COLAs were discussed. Motion to adopt passed without objection.

- Municipal Police Employees Retirement System (MPERS): recommended minimum 26.5% for fiscal 2027 (policy allows additional COLA funding add‑ons); membership grew to 5,547; proposed DROP crediting rate 7.4%; funded ratio ~82.38%. Motion to adopt passed without objection.

- Registrar of Voters Retirement System: recommended minimum 0% for fiscal 2027, with a statutory mechanism to allocate excess tax funds to a member sub‑mill savings fund; staff calculated a $207,683 allocation to that fund for fiscal 2026. Motion to adopt passed without objection.

- Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund: recommended minimum 7.75% for fiscal 2027; funded ratio ~90.78%; investment gains ~ $96.4 million; the board used funding‑deposit balances to authorize a permanent benefit increase paid from those balances. Motion to adopt passed without objection.

Votes and motions: For each valuation and, where applicable, associated experience study, the presenting actuary (Mr. Curran) moved that the committee adopt the reports as presented; secondary motions were offered and committee action on each item was recorded as passing “without objection.” No roll‑call vote tallies were recorded in the transcript.

What the reports stressed: presenters cited strong 2025 investment performance, payroll growth in many plans, and conservative assumption choices (including adoption of updated mortality tables) as the primary reasons for the decline in certified minimum rates. Several systems hold funding‑deposit accounts intended to prefund COLAs or smooth employer contributions; committee staff emphasized that boards may use those balances to authorize COLAs or offset employer contributions under statutory rules.

Committee process: Mr. Herbold summarized the office’s replication and review process and stated consistently that, for the systems reviewed in full or in part, the office did not identify significant deficiencies and that their replication work provided reasonable confirmation that the system actuaries’ valuations were in line with actuarial standards of practice.

Next steps: Boards of trustees for each system will set employer contribution rates within the statutory ranges and may consider whether to use funding‑deposit balances to pay COLAs or to stabilize employer rates. The committee adjourned at the end of the session.