Navajo County Agrees to Add an Additional $ 1.2 Million Annually to Public Safety Pension Fund | Navajo County

HOLBROOK – Navajo County is still digging doggedly out of its deep hole when it comes to the pension system for the sheriff’s deputies and prison guards.

The board of directors on Tuesday approved a 20-year plan to pay off its additional debt to the Public Safety Personal Retirement System (PSPRS) of $ 1.3 million per year without discussing its approval agenda.

The budget blow comes from the collapse of PSPRS investment after the last recession.

The pension fund made large investment gains every year before the 2008 recession. During the high season, the board of the pension system decided to use the profits to increase pension payments.

But as the recession hit, the value of the pension fund’s assets plummeted while the higher pension payments stayed.

Most police officers and firefighters can get a full pension after 20 years instead of waiting until they reach retirement age.

You will continue to receive these benefits even if you take another job.

The pension fund tried to adjust benefits and impose new restrictions, but courts ruled that the fund could not change the terms of the payout – even for current employees.

The ruling also affected the elected officials pension plan, which included the judges.

Ultimately, voters agreed to more limited benefits for new judges, firefighters, police officers, elected officials and correctional officers.

However, this resulted in a large, projected deficit in payments owed for both retirees and the current workforce.

All cities and districts as well as special districts with security forces were confronted with a budget crisis due to the pension deficit.

The amount that the counties and cities had to pay into the pension fund rose from around 15% of civil servants’ salaries to around 65%.

Even so, most counties and cities faced large unfinanced deficits.

Early calculations put Navajo County’s debt to PSPRS at $ 12 million and Apache County at $ 11 million.

Cities and fire districts also owe money, including $ 8 million for Show Low, $ 3 million for Snowflake, $ 5 million for Pinetop, $ 5 million for Timber Mesa Fire, $ 7 million for Holbrook and $ 1.2 million for Springerville, according to those initial estimates.

Some counties and cities have started paying off their debts, others have seen them increase.

The agreement, approved by the Navajo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, assumed a liability of approximately $ 26 million but assets of only $ 11 million. Currently, only 43% of the debt is financed.

This includes $ 20 million for the sheriff’s deputies and $ 5.8 million for the correctional officers.

All in all, Navajo County needs to increase its contributions by about $ 15 million. The plan calls for the county to contribute an additional $ 1.3 million annually over the next 20 years to meet these projected debts.

The plan stated that “these assumptions are updated annually and the calculation of the provision and the payback period can be adjusted”.

Peter Aleshire covers county government and other issues for the Independent. He is the former editor of the Payson Roundup. Reach out to him at [email protected]