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Get insights on WRS, 2011 WI Act 10 provisions, ETF’s workload impact, & more retirement issues. Details on WRS membership & changes affecting active employees.
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WCOA Annual Conference May 16, 2011 Matt Stohr, Administrator for Retirement Services Department of Employee Trust Funds
Today’s Presentation • Overview of the WRS • More Detail regarding the Provisions in 2011 WI Act 10 • Affect on ETF’s workload • Other Retirement Related Issues at ETF
Overview of WRS • Over 566,000 members in the WRS (1/1/10) • Active employees: 267,293 • Annuitants (retirees, disabilitants, and beneficiaries): 150,671 • Inactive employees: 148,353 • Active employees by employer type: 27% state, 73% local • 1,469 employers
WRS Members Eligible to Retire • Active 64,993 • Inactive 41,075 • Total 106,068 • As of 1/1/10, roughly 24% of active WRS members were eligible to retire.
2011 WI Act 10 • Provisions that affect the programs administered by ETF • Major insurance-related provisions that affect active employees: • Local employers can no longer contribute more than 88% of the premium for local government plan participants beginning 1/1/2012. • Establishes new premium rates for state employees for the rest of 2011. These rates for the employee share are more than twice current rates. • Directs Group Insurance Board to design health coverage plans that reduce state premium costs by at least 5% (including inflationary increases)in 2012 compared to 2011 premium costs.
Act 10 • Major WRS-related provisions that affect active employees: • Changes to WRS contribution rates • Most WRS employees will be required to pay increased WRS contributions (percentage of earnings), usually one-half of total contributions. • Actual amount varies for each WRS employee category. • Eliminates the Benefit Adjustment Contribution. • Contribution rates can change each calendar year • Primarily depends on investment performance.
Act 10 • Prohibits employers in the WRS and other governmental pension plans (City and County of Milwaukee) from “picking up” the employee share for most employees. • Exception: Existing collective bargaining agreements. • Exception: Many protective occupation employees. • Changes the formula calculation multiplier for elected and executive employees from 2.0% to 1.6%. • Date of applicability varies.
Act 10 • Effective date of Act? • Generally, an Act becomes effective on the day after it is published by the Secretary of State. On March 18, 2011 a temporary restraining order (TRO) was issued by the Dane County Circuit Court prohibiting the Secretary of State from publishing the Act as law pending further legal proceedings.
Current Workload • ETF has received more than 15,000 retirement estimate requests in the first 17 weeks of 2011, which is a 108%increase compared to the first 17 weeks in 2010. • ETF has received about 7900 retirement applications in the first 17 weeks of 2011, which is roughly a 94% increase compared to the same time in 2010.
Affect on Other Services • Have had to prioritize services due to limited resources • Wait times have increased for: • General correspondence • Separation benefits • Death benefit processing • Final annuity calculations
Customer Service Improvements • Despite these challenges, we have launched many customer service improvements. • Variable Fund information for retirees • Developed one-stop shop retirement planning tools • Videos • Brochures • Expanded outreach across the state • Improved our overall customer service score with benchmarking firm
Thank You • Appreciate partnership with WCOA. • Questions?