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Committee told PERS increases and early side-account depletion account for roughly $2M of budget impact
Summary
Staff told the committee that roughly $2.0 million of the projected $2.4 million budget impact stems from PERS changes and an earlier-than-expected depletion of a previously purchased side account; options discussed included issuing a bond or developing a savings plan to rebuild a side account.
Presenters explained that the district previously purchased a site account tied to PERS liability management that had provided significant savings in earlier years; rising wages, unfunded liabilities and underperforming investments have caused that account to run down sooner than expected and increased employer PERS costs.
On the PERS impact, the presenter summarized: "Well, approximately 2,000,000 of the 2.4 is the additional money, that increase in PERS." Committee members asked for a quantitative breakdown of how much of the 2.4M is due to each factor (underperforming investments, wage trajectory, unfunded liabilities). Staff recommended exploring options—saving via a new bond to recreate a side account, a district savings plan, or spreading reductions across departments to avoid midyear cuts. The presenter said the district planned in advance by purchasing the side account but that the account didn’t last as long as anticipated because initial investment assumptions and wage trajectories changed.
Members asked staff to publish spreadsheets and a clearer bucketed breakdown so the committee can see exactly how the $2.4M figure is constructed.
