Local tax contribution to Washington County employee pensions pegged at $2.2 million next year
Washington County elected officials learned last week that local taxpayers will be contributing more than $2.2 million to the employees’ pension fund.
Actuary David Reichert of Korn Ferry human resource consulting, Philadelphia, reported to the Retirement Board that total contributions to the pension fund from local, state and federal taxpayers will be $3,480,100.
The $2,215,428 from local taxpayers that will be needed next year is down slightly from $2,568,856 last year, according to figures from county Controller Michael Namie.
The $2.2 million will be part of the county’s 2019 general fund budget.
Members of the retirement board who make decisions about county employees’ pensions and investments include the commissioners, treasurer and controller.
“This is when you know where we stand,” said county Treasurer Francis King.
The pension investment fund contained $167,529,542 as of July 31, Namie said.
According to a law passed in in 1971, the 67 Pennsylvania counties must have a defined-benefit retirement plan for workers’ pensions. County employees have 7 percent of their salaries withheld from their paychecks as individual contributions.
Namie’s office calculated three years ago that, generally speaking, the average employee retiring from Washington County government will receive about $9,800 a year from the pension fund.