4.1 ERMUSR 04-10-2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River Municipal Utilities Elk River, Minnesota Notes to the Financial Statements December 31, 2017 Note 3: Defined Benefit Pension Plans - Statewide (Continued) E. Actuarial Assumptions The total pension liability in the June 30, 2017 actuarial valuation was determined using the following actuarial assumptions: Inflation 2.50% per year Active Member Payroll Growth 3.25% per year Investment Rate of Return 7.50% Salary increases were based on a service-related table. Mortality rates for active members, retirees, survivors and disabilitants were based on RP-2014 tables for all plans for males or females, as appropriate, with slight adjustments to fit PERA's experience. Cost of living benefit increases for retirees are assumed to be: 1 percent per year for the GERF through 2044 and then 2.5 percent thereafter for both plans. Actuarial assumptions used in the June 30, 2017 valuation were based on the results of actuarial experience studies. The most recent four-year experience study in the GERF was completed in 2015. The following changes in actuarial assumptions occurred in 2017: GERF • The Combined Service Annuity (CSA) loads were changed from 0.8 percent for active members and 60 percent for vested and non-vested deferred members. The revised CSA loads are now 0.0 percent for active member liability, 15.0 percent for vested deferred member liability and 3.0 percent for non-vested deferred member liability. • The assumed post-retirement benefit increase rate was changed from 1.0 percent per year for all years to 1.0 percent per year through 2044 and 2.5 percent per year thereafter. The State Board of Investment, which manages the investments of PERA, prepares an analysis of the reasonableness on a regular basis of the long-term expected rate of return using a building-block method in which best-estimate ranges of expected future rates of return are developed for each major asset class. These ranges are combined to produce an expected long-term rate of return by weighting the expected future rates of return by the target asset allocation percentages. The target allocation and best estimates of geometric real rates of return for each major asset class are summarized in the following table: Long-term Target Expected Real Asset Class Allocation Rate of Return Domestic Stocks 39.00 % 5.10 % International Stocks 19.00 5.30 Bonds 20.00 0.75 Alternative Assets 20.00 5.90 Cash 2.00 - Total 100.00 % 43 1n7