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RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR
GENERAL EMPLOYEES
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CITY OF
MIAMI BEACH
CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH FLORIDA di 139r - , \1 E 0
(305) 673.7437
FAX: (305) 673-7297
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
March 27,2000
TO:
Robert Parcher
City Clerk
FROM:
Margaret A. Arculeo ~~:
Pension Administrator
RE:
General Employees Retirement System of the City of Miami Beach
Annual Report for 98/99 Plan Year
The General Employees Retirement System Ordinance No, 1901, Article 7, Paragraph (q), provides
for an Annual Report to be filed along with the appropriate statistical information, The report
contains the names of the Board members, how often they meet, their mission, objectives, strategies
and accomplishments as a Board during the past fiscal year. The statistical information is reported
in the Actuarial Valuation as of 10/1/99 and the Independent Auditor's Report as of 9/30/99 attached,
If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the Pension Office 673-7437,
/ma
Enc,
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ANNUAL STATUS REPORT
RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR THE GENERAL EMPLOYEES
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
For the Year Ended September 30, 1999
The Board of Trustees, listed below, meet on the second Tuesday of each Month:
James Boyd, Chairman
Georgina Echert
Ronald Helphand, Trustee
Dean Mielke, Trustee
Jorge Montes, Vice Chairman
Mark Slattery, Secretary
Robert Thomas, Trustee
Tom Womble, Trustee
John Woods, Trustee
Term Expires: 9/30/2000
2/28/2002
9/30/200 I
10/31/99
2/28/2002
9/30/02
10/31/02
9/30/2001
9/30/02
Elected
Appointed
Elected
Appointed
Appointed
Elected
Appointed
Elected
Elected
The Board of Trustees consists of nine persons; four are appointed by the City Manager, three
Members of the System are elected by Employees who are Members of the System, and two are
Retirants elected by the retired Members of the System. Trustees serve for a term of three years with
the annual election of a Chairman and Vice Chairman from its membership and Secretary from the
City Manager's appointees, In September 1999, Mark Slattery and John Woods were re-elected to
three year terms, At their April 14, 1999 meeting the Trustees re-elected Me Boyd to act as
Chairman, Me Montes as Vice Chairman and Me Slattery as Secretary for the Board,
The Trustees are responsible for the proper operation and management of the system and for carrying
out the wishes of the City Commission by administering the provisions of the Pension Plan
Ordinances, They were assisted by contracted professionals in all areas concerning pension, From
the law firm of Cypen & Cypen, Me Steve Cypen is legal counsel for the Board and an expert in
pension law,
The City's Related Special Acts along with the Pension's Ordinance and Investment Guidelines
govern the investment strategy for the Fund's five investment managers, Me Bill Cottle, ofDorn,
Helliesen & Cottle, is the fund evaluator and monitors the managers' performance and compliance
with the Investment Guidelines, He reviews this information and advises the Board through quarterly
performance reports, The Trustees evaluated the asset allocation of the Fund and with the assistance
of the Fund Evaluator indexed 50% of the Equity portion of the Fund and 50% of the Fixed Income
portion, The Portfolio is managed by: Le.e. Capital Management managing 15% of the assets in
equities; RhumbLine Advisers managing 7,5% of the assets in a mid-cap index fund; Gratry & Co,
managing 2.5% of the assets in international investments; RhumbLine Advisers managing 25% of the
assets in an S&P 500 Equity Index Fund; Wellington Management Co, managing 25% of the assets
in a core bond position; and Northern Trust managing 25% of the assets in a Fixed Income Index
Fund. The Fund experienced a real rate of return for the year ended 9/30/99 of 13 ,} %, Even with
the payment of approximately $12,7 million in pension benefits, lump sum payments and investment
and administrative expenses, the total assets of the Fund were up from $228,740,415 at 9/30/98 to
$247,210,990 at 9/30/99,
ANNUAL STATUS REPORT
For Plan Year Ended 9/30/99
Page 2 of2
The Actuary for the System is the firm of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, located in Fort
Lauderdale, The Actuarial Valuation for the Year Ended 9/30/99 has been completed and filed the
State Actuary in Tallahassee, This report reflected that the City's contribution rate for Plan Year
2000/2001 will again be zero, A copy of the Actuarial Valuation has been forwarded to the City's
Budget Department
An independent audit was conducted by the accounting firm of Spear, Safer, Harmon & Company
located in Miami. The auditors statistics reconcile to those reported by the actuary, There were no
control or material weaknesses reported from this Audit A copy of their report has also been
forwarded to the City's Budget Department
The mission of the Board has been to properly administer the Plan as directed through the Ordinance
and to insure that the original purpose for which the Pension Ordinance was created, which was to
provide retirement and other benefits for eligible employees of the City and their beneficiaries or
dependents, is accomplished,
The objectives for meeting this mission are to coordinate the desires of the Administration along with
the performance of the Plan's professionals, to continue to maximize investments and to secure a
funding process, assisted by actuarially calculated contributions and closely monitored investments,
to meet the operations and liabilities of the Plan,
The General Retirement System and the Unclassified System share an Administrative Staff of three
employees along with other combined administrative and office expenses, Separately, each System
is responsible for those administrative expenses specifically directed to their System.
The System professionally processed the retirement of39 employees and/or beneficiaries during the
year, The number ofRetirants, Disability Retirees and Beneficiaries total 890. For all those Members
who retired during the fiscal year the following provisions applied:
Normal Retirement Eligibility was age 50 with five years of Creditable Service; benefit was
3% of Final Average MontWy Earnings for the first 15 years of creditable service plus 4% of
Final Average MontWy Earnings for the years thereafter, not to exceed 90%, Final Average
Monthly Earnings was 1/12 of the average annual earnings of the two highest years,
All benefits in pay status for at least 12 months are subject to a 1,5% cost ofliving increase each year
as of October 1 st based on the original benefit amount
Terminated employees or those employees who resigned were eligible to request a refund of
accumulated contributions, There were 25 such requests processed for lump sum payments, Vested
Terminations with at least 5 years of creditable service were eligible to request a refund of
accumulated contributions, or receive an accrued benefit beginning at age 50, or at age 62 with less
than five years,
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