January 11, 2013 05:11 PM UTC

Candidate Sought for Colorado PERA Board Retiree Position.

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• by: PolDancer

In May of this year Colorado PERA retirees will elect a new trustee to represent their interests on the Colorado PERA Board of Trustees. This election provides an opportunity for PERA retirees to place a member on the board who will remind the board that Colorado PERA pension benefits are contractual obligations of PERA-affiliated employers. (PERA’s legal staff has neglected this important duty.) Colorado PERA Board members must realize that the protections of the U.S. Constitution also extend to citizens living in small western states.

I believe that the Colorado PERA Board of Trustees and the Colorado PERA administration would benefit from the presence of PERA Board members who regularly call attention to the contractual nature of public pension benefits in Colorado.  Such trustees should encourage PERA’s administrators and lobbyists to routinely and emphatically communicate this contractual status of public pension benefits to members of the Colorado General Assembly.  Rather than serving as a discussion forum for potential means of breaching PERA pension contracts, the Colorado PERA Board should work to protect the contractual rights of Colorado PERA members.

Such trustees should have the backbone to withstand attempts by self-interested parties to enact PERA pension reforms that are unconstitutional on their face.  Such trustees should insist that PERA-affiliated employers meet their annual required pension contributions, and cease the irresponsible accumulation of their pension debts.  Every communication that Colorado PERA Board members have with elected officials should begin with a reminder that the State of Colorado is currently in breach of contract.  In conformance with their fiduciary duty, members of the PERA Board should remind members of the General Assembly that $4.3 billion in annual required contributions to the PERA trust funds have been skipped by the General Assembly in the last decade, and that these skipped payments accumulate as public pension debt of Colorado PERA and PERA-affiliated employers.  

Colorado PERA Board Trustees should be present at annual PERA presentations to the Joint Budget Committee, Joint Finance Committees, and Legislative Audit Committee to remind state legislators that state expenditures to meet contractual obligations take precedence over discretionary expenditures.  PERA trustees should remind state legislators that, although former legislators and Colorado voters have slashed state revenues (Colorado now has the lowest state revenues per capita in the nation), under the Colorado Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, the State of Colorado will never be able to welch on its contractual public pension obligations.

From the Colorado PERA website:

“Board of Trustees Election Slated-Candidates Sought

In May 2013, Colorado PERA will hold an election for seats on the Board of Trustees for the following positions:

One State Division position

Two School Division positions

One retiree position (to be elected by School, Local Government, or Judicial Division retirees)

Candidacy packets may be obtained by writing to:

Colorado PERA

Internal Audit Division

1301 Pennsylvania Street

Denver, CO 80203-5011

To be placed on the ballot, a candidate must fulfill the requirements explained in the candidacy packet. Requests for candidacy packets should include the name, PERA Division of membership, mailing address, daytime telephone number, and signature of the candidate.

Candidates will be subject to a background check.

Members from the State Division who are interested in being a candidate must also indicate whether they are a member of the PERA defined benefit or defined contribution plan.

Ballots will be mailed in early May to the following:

Members of the State Division

Members of the School Division

Retirees from the School, Local Government, and Judicial Divisions

Returned ballots must be postmarked by May 31, 2013.

PERA will be holding elections for the seats currently held by Maryann Motza from the State Division, Scott Noller and Marcus Pennell from the School Division, and Carole Wright, a retiree, whose terms expire June 30, 2013. All positions are for four-year terms.

The Board of Trustees meets at least five times per year and is responsible for adopting the rules and policies for the administration of PERA. Elected Board members serve without pay, but are reimbursed for necessary expenses.”

http://www.denverpost.com/news…

Link to PERA announcement:

http://www.copera.org/pera/abo…