N.C. Retirement Systems Receive Awards for Excellence in Funding and Administration in All Categories

(Raleigh, N.C.) – The North Carolina Retirement Systems announced today that the Public Pensions Coordinating Council (PPCC) presented its 2017 Standards Awards for Funding and Administration to the State of North Carolina for ALL six of the state's pension plans eligible for recognition.

The state received funding and administration awards for:

• Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System (TSERS)

• Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System (LGERS)

• Consolidated Judicial Retirement System (CJRS)

• Legislative Retirement System (LRS)

• Firefighters' and Rescue Squad Workers' Pension Fund (FRSWPF)

• National Guard Pension Fund (NGPF)

The PPCC is a coalition of three national associations that represent public retirement systems and administrators: the National Council on Teacher Retirement, the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, and the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. Together, these organizations represent more than 500 of the largest pension plans in the United States serving most of the nation's 16 million employees of state and local government.

North Carolina State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, credits the General Assembly through taxpayers, local governments, and employee contributions for providing the full funding needed for the state's retirement systems. “Our elected leaders understand the value of our pension plans to attract and retain qualified employees for public service," Folwell said. “Together, we seek to preserve and strengthen these plans so we can continue to provide them for the next generation of teachers, first responders, state workers and other public workers."

The PPCC awards are only given to those public plans meeting strict funding and administration criteria. In 2016, both PPCC awards were won by only 84, or 1.3 percent, of the 6,276 public sector pension plans across the United States.

“We believe the retirement systems are made stronger when we are held to higher expectations and measured on our performance," said Steve Toole, Executive Director of the North Carolina Retirement Systems Division.

Background:

The North Carolina Retirement Systems provide retirement benefits and services to over 900,000 current and former public employees. Current employees pay a portion of their salary into the systems each month and the General Assembly provides employer funding for TSERS, CJRS, LRS, FRSWPF and the NGPF. Local governing bodies provide employer funding for LGERS. The systems are administered on a day-to-day basis by the State Treasurer of North Carolina with additional governing authority vested in the Boards of Trustees of the systems.