In a statement released today, Robert Scott, Executive Director of the Denver Public Schools Retirement System, said he takes exception with Colorado State Treasurer Mike Coffman in calling for a postponement of the proposed merger of the DPSRS into Colorado PERA.

“The present effort to merge the systems has been under consideration for over four years and is being discussed with complete care and thorough, thoughtful analysis. The action to initiate the proposed merger was taken by the Denver Public Schools. Colorado PERA became a party to the merger in October of 2002 after careful deliberation on the part of its board and staff,” Scott stated.

“It is the fiduciary duty of the boards of all parties to the merger, DPS, DPSRS, and PERA, to assess the funded status of both plans prior to giving final authority to proceed. To this end, the actuarial firms, hired individually by each party, will conduct an independent study of both plans. Results will be compared and differences resolved prior to a final ‘go ahead’ vote completed by June 30, 2004. Prior to July 1, 2004, the safeguard is in place that any of the parties can “opt out” of the merger.

“The merger of the DPSRS into Colorado PERA affords a number of benefits for both active and retired members. Active employees will be able to transfer retirement benefits throughout Colorado. Retirees will enjoy the stability of a permanent source of funding for health insurance benefits in PERA. The size and history of PERA, an extremely large system with excellent cash flow, makes it less vulnerable to the volatility and instability of market and other forces.

“Today, both the DPSRS and PERA are better funded than throughout most of their histories. Similar to most pension plans, these plans carry some unfunded liabilities. This is not unusual. The boards and staffs, on an ongoing basis with an analysis and review conducted annually, monitor these situations. Appropriate actions are proposed, as with the PERA legislative proposals for 2004, to address solutions for maintaining financial security for members of the plan.

“The Denver Public Schools Retirement System continues to support the efforts to merge the DPSRS into Colorado PERA. We believe this will result in increased stability and portability for our members,” said Scott.

The current plan calls for all parties involved to finalize a merger agreement within the next few weeks. Once that’s achieved, final merger of the DPSRS into Colorado PERA will take effect Jan. 1, 2005. The enabling legislation for the merger was passed unanimously by both houses of the Colorado legislature and signed into law by Gov. Bill Owens last year.

For more information, contact John MacPherson, Communications Director, Denver Public School Retirement System, 303-813-4643.