Category: News

NOTICE OF ELECTION

The current term for Seat Number 2 of the Board of Retirement (General Member Representative) will end on June 30, 2025.  An election will be conducted for Seat Number 2 for the new term beginning August 11, 2025 and ending on June 30, 2028 pursuant to Government Code 31523.

The following are important dates and activities for this election process:

                        DATE                                           ACTIVITY

June 23, 2025                       Notice of Election Distributed

July 8, 2025                          Deadline to Submit Nomination Papers*

July 18, 2025                         Distribution of Election Ballots

August 7, 2025                     Final Date to Receive Ballots

August 8, 2025                     Canvassing (counting) the Ballots

*Note:  Any Member who desires to run for the Board of Retirement must request a nomination paper from StanCERA and return to StanCERA no later than 5:00 p.m. on the date specified. You must include no less than 25 signatures from StanCERA qualifying General Member signatures, more than 25 are encouraged should any signatures be disqualified.  See StanCERA Bylaws for additional information.

Pick-Up/Drop Off:    
Stanislaus County Employees’ Retirement Association
832 12th Street, Suite 600                                   
Modesto, CA  95354
retirement@stancera.org                                                   

Phone:                       (209) 525-6393
E-Mail:                        taaa@stancera.org

StanCERA’s Actuarial Valuation as of June 30, 2024. Click below for more information.

StanCERA is excited to announce our 2025 Pre-Retirement Seminar to be held in-person at our StanCERA office on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Seating is limited. Click below for more information.

On February 25, 2025, the StanCERA Board of Retirement approved the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for retirees and survivor beneficiaries. Members that are retired between April 2, 2023 to April 2, 2025, in Tiers 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 will receive a 2.5% COLA beginning April 1, 2025.

Members that were retired prior to April 1, 2023 will receive a 3% COLA.

The Act was signed into law on January 5, 2025.

The Act ends the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). These provisions reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits of over 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes. This law increases Social Security benefits for certain types of workers, including some:

• teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states.
• federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System; and
• people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.

Please note: Most members of StanCERA (except for Keyes CSD) are covered under both the County Employees Retirement Act of 1937 (“the 1937 Act”), and the Federal Social Security program.

Our retirement system is integrated with Social Security, which means that our plan’s benefits and contributions are reduced in acknowledgment that you are covered under both StanCERA and Social Security programs.  Integration allows our members to enjoy both the benefits of their public pension and earned social security benefits without a penalty. 

If you are a StanCERA member who did not work for any other government employer, THIS LAW WILL NOT CHANGE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT.  If you worked for a government employer that was not covered by social security and you are receiving a reduction, you may see an increase in your social security payment. 

If you would like to learn more about the steps the Social Security Administration (SSA) is taking to implement the law, select the link below.
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html?tl=0

The 2024 1099-R forms are now available in your Member Portal. Printed copies will also be mailed. If you have any questions or need assistance accessing your form, please contact us at retirement@stancera.org

StanCERA received the following questions regarding actuarial auditing services RFP.

1)  General: When was the last actuarial audit completed for StanCERA? If it is not the actuarial audit that was completed in 2017, can you provide a copy of that report?

StanCERA Response:

The last actuarial audit report completed in 2017 can be found at the StanCERA website: https://www.stancera.org/investments-finance/actuarial-reports

2) Section 1.4 on page 3: What was the fee paid for the previous actuarial audit?

StanCERA Response:

The fee paid for the 2017 actuarial audit was $47,960.

3)  Section Five, item 4 on page 17: There is a listed requirement that the Actuary preparing the work be a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Would it be acceptable for someone who is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and an enrolled actuary with 30 years of experience providing consulting to large public retirement systems to be the lead actuary, provided that the team would also include Fellows of the Society of Actuaries.

StanCERA Response:

This would be acceptable if the Fellow participates in preparation of the audit. 

The Request for Proposal (“RFP”) is issued by the Stanislaus County Employees’ Retirement Association (“StanCERA”) for the purpose of soliciting proposals from qualified actuarial firms (“ACTUARY”) to provide actuarial auditing services to the StanCERA Board and StanCERA staff. It is StanCERA’s intent to obtain the services of one firm for actuarial audit services. StanCERA has engaged Cheiron, Inc. for actuarial consulting services through March 31, 2026.

Respondents shall submit the proposal via email to retireops@stancera.org no later than Feb 10, 2025 and prior to 2:00 p.m. PST. Proposals received after the submission deadline will not be considered.

Declaration of Election Results for Seat 3

Pursuant to the Retirement Board Bylaws Section 1.6, a Board Member Election was held for Seat # 3, General Representative.  

A Notice of Election was distributed to General members on December 8, 2024. The deadline for nomination papers was December 23, 2024 . 

Only one general member, Delilah Vasquez submitted a nomination paper. Therefore, Delilah Vasquez is declared the winner for Retirement Board Seat #3, General Representative, by unanimous ballot pursuant to Government Code Section 31523. Delilah Vasquez will begin a new three-year term on January 27, 2025 -January 27, 2028.

Declaration made by:

Tom Stadelmaier
Executive Director