Estimated Benefit Payment Plan Plays Significant Role
A recently issued follow- up Audit by the Commonwealth’s pension oversight agency, Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC), noted several areas of improvement in the State Retirement Board’s (SRB) operational requirements.
In its cover letter sent to Treasurer Deb Goldberg, PERAC Executive Director Bill Keefe commented that the SRB Executive Director Kathi Kougias and her staff had achieved “tremendous results” in the follow-up Audit conducted by PERAC.
First noted in the audit follow- up was the length of time required to issue the first pension payment to new retirees. The wait time for this first payment had been reduced from 134 days to 53 days, which is below the statutory requirement of 60 days. This matter has been a priority issue for SRB Elected Member Frank Valeri who also serves as Mass Retirees President. Valeri initiated the adoption of an Estimated Initial Benefit Payment plan just last year and has played a significant role in this time reduction – by over 60%!
The other two operational improvements noted in the report were the time periods members had to wait to receive refunds and the transfer of payments to other retirement boards. Members seeking refunds of contributions are now receiving payment in 16 days on average instead of 84 days on average. This is a 98% compliance rate that’s significantly higher than the prior compliance of 52%. Also the payments to other retirement boards were reduced from 122 days to 32 days, which is a 100% compliance rate.
In response to the PERAC follow- up Audit, President Valeri commented, “I’m pleased to see that PERAC acknowledged Kathi and her team’s improvements in these critical areas. This administration has made it clear the priority is membership service and has worked so hard in that area of operations to make these improvements, especially in the implementation of the Estimated Initial Payment plan that was endorsed by Treasurer Goldberg and my fellow board members Theresa McGoldrick and Archie Gormley.”