Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Pensions topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Salem Township board approves sharply lower pension obligations and payments for 2025
Summary
Supervisors accepted 2025 Minimum Municipal Obligations for both the defined‑benefit and defined‑contribution employee plans and authorized payments totaling $47,127. The defined‑benefit MMO fell to $31,316 from about $90,000 last year based on the Jan. 1, 2023 valuation.
The Salem Township Board of Supervisors voted Sept. 18 to accept the township’s pension funding reports and authorize payments for both the defined‑benefit and defined‑contribution employee plans for 2025.
The board accepted the Salem Township Service Employees Defined Benefit Pension Plan financial requirement and Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) calculated using the Jan. 1, 2023 valuation. The report lists a Normal Cost of 10.256% on estimated active payroll of $319,256, producing a Normal Cost of $32,743; a Financial Requirement of $42,959; and a Minimum Municipal Obligation of $31,316. The board then approved payment of $31,316 consistent with that MMO.
Supervisors also approved the defined‑contribution plan calculation and a payment of $15,811 (employer contribution set at 9.0% of estimated 2025 payroll of $175,674). Combined, the authorizations amount to $47,127 in pension contributions tied to the 2025 municipal budget.
Supervisor Kerry Jobe highlighted the change in obligation compared with recent years, saying the MMO “is a significant drop” from prior levels and noting the valuation showed the plan was about 105% funded on the cited date. “We are finally out of the point where the taxpayers are subsidizing the pension system by putting more money into it than we are gaining,” Jobe said, describing the board’s expectation that the funding position can be maintained if market returns track projections.
The certification included the standard Act 205 (Chapter 3) notes: state aid may be used to fund part or all of the municipal obligation (to be deposited within 30 days of receipt), deposits must be made by Dec. 31, 2025 to avoid interest penalties, and any delinquent MMO amounts from prior years must be included in the 2025 budget with penalties.
The motions for both plans carried unanimously: Supervisors Bob Zundel, Ken Trumbetta and Kerry Jobe voted in favor.
