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The VCERA Office will be closed on Thursday, December 25 in observance of Christmas Day.

Holiday Closure

The VCERA Office will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 27 and 28, in observance of Thanksgiving.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Tuesday, November 11 in observance of Veterans Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Monday, September 1 in observance of Labor Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Friday, July 4 in observance of Independence Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Thursday, June 19 in observance of Juneteenth.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Monday, May 26 in observance of Memorial Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Monday, February 17 in observance of Presidents&#8217; Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Monday, January 20 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Wednesday, January 1 in observance of New Year&#8217;s Day.

The VCERA Office will be closed on Wednesday, December 25 in observance of Christmas Day.

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Check out the latest news, updates, &amp; reports from VCERA

On January 5, 2025, former President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, after it was passed by the Senate in December and House in November.



The legislation eliminates the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO.) It will stop the reduction of Social Security benefits for certain retirees who receive public pensions. Additionally, a provision that reduced social security benefits for surviving spouses and family of pensioners was also eliminated.



The Social Security Administration (SSA) will recalculate benefits for those affected by the WEP and GPO. Payments will be retroactive to December 2023.



This law does not impact or change any members’ VCERA retirement benefits. Only Social Security (SS) benefits are impacted, and only people who receive a pension based on work not covered by Social Security may see changes to their SS benefits. While most VCERA members participate in Social Security and are therefore not affected by the new law, there are several bargaining groups, such as Law Enforcement and Fire Suppression (Safety members), that are not subject to Social Security. 



If you are an affected retiree, the SSA will contact you, or you can visit <a href="http://www.ssa.gov">www.ssa.gov</a> for more information.



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Social Security Fairness Act

VCERA is pleased to open a recruitment for a Retirement Benefits Manager. This position will assist the Chief Operations Officer (COO) in supervising professional-level specialized Retirement operations staff, including providing training to staff and ensuring departmental compliance with state, federal, and county regulations and policies. To learn more about the job opening and to apply, click on the link below.



Payroll Title:&nbsp;Retirement Benefits Manager II/III Position Type:&nbsp;Full-Time Regular Recruitment Period:&nbsp;2/18/2025 – 3/4/2025 Salary Range:&nbsp;$94,952.16 – $142,613.65 Annually Job Posting: <a href="https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/ventura/jobs/4819992/retirement-benefits-manager-ii-iii">https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/ventura/jobs/4819992/retirement-benefits-manager-ii-iii</a>

Open Recruitment for Retirement Benefits Manager

VCERA Staff are implementing the July 2020 California Supreme Court Decision, Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association (2020) 9 Cal.5th 1032, 1070, commonly referred to as “Alameda.” This implementation is being executed in accordance with the latest direction received from the Board of Retirement in Resolutions passed by the VCERA Board between October 2020 and April 2023.



VCERA staff has provided the Board of Retirement with Alameda implementation status updates at the monthly Board meetings. Highlights from the latest status reports include:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The VCERA Project for Alameda Corrections team includes several staff, plus coordination with the County of Ventura and many other consultants and system support services.</li>



<li>The project consists of two phases:<ul><li>Phase 1 – Calculate corrections to pensionable earnings &amp; member contributions</li></ul>
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<li>Phase 2 – Calculate corrections to retirement benefits &amp; process refunds with interest</li>
</ul>
</li>



<li>VCERA is nearing the end of Phase 1, with work in Phase 2 projected to begin in 2025.</li>



<li>Currently, VCERA staff are working to clean up historical data, and test system enhancements for accuracy of the corrections.</li>



<li>The County has recently completed programming for certain calculations and the next step is for the project team to perform full testing of those changes.</li>



<li>Refunds and benefit recalculations are projected to begin in the second half of 2025. That process is projected to take a year or more to complete.</li>



<li>Affected members will receive individual communication prior to their corrections being processed.</li>
</ul>



VCERA will post additional updates about its Alameda Implementation as the multi-year project progresses. To receive email alerts when updates are posted to our website, please enter your information here: <a href="https://www.vcera.org/vcera-website-notifications">https://www.vcera.org/vcera-website-notifications</a>.

Alameda Implementation Status Update

Election results are in for the General Member and Alternate Safety Member seats on the VCERA Board of Retirement. On February 5, 2025, the Ventura County Elections Division issued certified results for the election held on February 3, 2025. The following are the winning candidates, who will be completing the remaining portion of the three-year terms for each seat.



For the General Member election, Jordan Roberts received the most votes out of the 708 cast among five candidates on the ballot. The term for this seat ends on December 31, 2027.



For the Alternate Safety Member seat, only one individual filed nomination documents. Therefore, per Government Code section 31523, an election was not held and the clerk cast a unanimous ballot in favor of the candidate, Ryan Resnick. The term for this seat ends on December 31, 2026.



VCERA congratulates these individuals on their appointments to the Board of Retirement. Below are the vote totals for each candidate:



General Member Election Candidate Name&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Votes Susan White Wood&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;81 Roy Morris&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;31 Derek Fouarge&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;156 Liza R. Rocha&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;203 Jordan Roberts&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;231



Click below to view the Certifications of Election Results and the Official Statements of Votes Cast for each election:



<a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/25F-Certification-Letter-Signed.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Certification Letter</a> <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/25F-General-Member-Cerification-Signed.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Certification of Election Results &#8211; General Member</a> <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/25F-Results-Votes-Cast-General-Member-Signed.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Official Statement of Votes Cast</a> <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Appointment-of-Alternate-Safety-Member-with-sig-and-Ann-Michelle-Corrections.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Appointment of Alternate Safety Member</a>



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2025 Board of Retirement Election Results

Form 1099-Rs reporting the 2024 retirement earnings of retirees and other VCERA payees were mailed on January 28, 2025. The 1099-Rs are also available in <a href="https://members.vcera.org/v3prod/app?service=external/MemberPages:MemberLogin">Member Portal</a> accounts. Members are encouraged to consult a qualified tax preparer with questions about their 2024 taxable income.



For more information, click <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2024_How-to-Read-your-1099-R-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a> for an explanation of how to read your 1099-R. For information regarding income tax, click <a href="https://www.vcera.org/income-tax">here</a>.

2024 Form 1099-Rs Mailed

VCERA is pleased to open a recruitment for a Retirement Accountant. This position will be responsible for fiscal monitoring, accounting control, budget compilation and projection, financial statement development, and other accounting functions for VCERA. To learn more about the job opening and to apply, click on the link below.







Payroll Title: Accountant II/Senior Position Type: Full-Time Recruitment Period: 12/5/24-12/27/24 Salary Range: $71,132.40 &#8211; $109,543.91 Annually Job Posting: <a href="https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/ventura/jobs/4715387/retirement-accountant-ii-mb-senior-accountant-mb[AA1]" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/ventura/jobs/4715387/retirement-accountant-ii-mb-senior-accountant-mb</a>



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Open Recruitment for Accountant II/Senior

An election for a General Member Representative and a special election for an Alternate Safety Member Representative on the VCERA Board of Retirement will be held on February 3, 2025.



Any active General member is eligible to run for the General Member Representative office. The elected member will serve a 3-year term from January 1, 2025 until December 31, 2027.



Only Safety members in the Fire Suppression group, including Airport Operations Officers and Harbor Patrol Officers, are eligible for the Alternate Safety Member office. The elected member will serve from the date of certification of election results until December 31, 2026.



Nomination documents can be obtained by appointment starting on December 2, 2024, in the County Elections Office or by emailing <a href="mailto:campaign.finance@ventura.org">campaign.finance@ventura.org</a>. To make an appointment, visit <a href="http://www.venturavote.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.venturavote.org</a>. Completed nomination packets must be returned to the Elections Office by December 9, 2024, at 5 p.m.



Serving on the VCERA Board of Retirement offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of retirement security for thousands of dedicated public employees in Ventura County. As a Board member, you will play an important role in reviewing VCERA’s investments, policies, and long-term sustainability, helping to provide essential lifetime benefits to those who have served our community.



View the <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/General-Member-Election-Notice-2024-v1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">General Member Election Notice</a> and <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Gen.-Member-Election-Calendar-2024-Final-v3-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Calendar</a>, or the <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Special-Election-for-Alt.-Safety-member-Notice-2024-v1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alternate Safety Member Special Election Notice</a> and <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Alt.-Safety-Member-Election-Calendar-2024-Final-v3-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Calendar</a>, which provide information on the election process, timeline, and how to become a candidate, or <a href="https://www.vcera.org/contact-us">contact us</a> with questions.



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Notice of Election for General Member and Special Election for Alternate Safety Member on Board

The <a href="https://content.vcera.org/members/alameda-decision-information/">Alameda Decision of 2020</a> concluded that all amendments to the definition of compensation earnable, enacted because of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA), were constitutional. The Court also ruled that boards may not include the value of benefits paid “in-kind,” such as the portion of flex credit applied to healthcare benefits. To comply with the decision, the Board of Retirement adopted the Flexible Benefits Correction Resolution on April 17, 2023, excluding a portion of the Flexible Credit Allowance from the compensation earnable calculation for legacy retirement plan members. This resulted in reduced pension benefits for those retiring on or after July 30, 2020. Eligible members will receive a refund of member contributions on non-cashable flex credit, plus interest (net of overpaid benefits plus interest for retirees.) The corresponding employer contributions remain with the VCERA fund as a credit toward future employer contributions. With this savings, on June 27, 2023, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the creation of the Legacy Retiree Healthcare Premium Subsidy and Reimbursement Plan (“HRA plan”) to mitigate some of the loss in retirement benefits to members.



Additionally, on June 27, 2023, the Board of Supervisors approved an Amendment to the Memorandum of Agreement between the Ventura County Fire Protection District and the Ventura County Professional Firefighters’ Association (VCPFA). This amendment enables the monthly funding of a Legacy Retiree Healthcare Contribution on behalf of eligible retirees, directed into the VCPFA-administered medical trust to cover health-related expenses for qualified retirees.



The County HRA Plan will provide eligible retirees a healthcare reimbursement account, funded by employer contributions in amounts based on individual bargaining agreements, with potential annual increases of up to 3%. The HRA can be used for eligible out-of-pocket medical, dental, and vision expenses for eligible retirees and their dependents.



While VCERA does not administer retiree health benefits or the HRA plan, and thus cannot answer questions about such plans, you can learn more by calling the Ventura County HRA Administrator at <a href="tel:805-654-5033">(805) 654-5033</a>, or by visiting the&nbsp;<a href="https://hr.ventura.org/benefits/legacy-retiree-hra" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HRA Benefit web page</a>.



For information about eligibility for the County’s medical, dental, and vision care plans, contact the Ventura County Human Resources Department at <a href="tel:805-662-6791">(805) 662-6791</a>, or visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://hr.ventura.org/benefits/retiree-health-benefits" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ventura County Retiree Health Benefits web page</a>.&nbsp;



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County of Ventura Legacy Retiree Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) Overview

VCERA is pleased to open a recruitment for a Retirement Accounting Manager. This position will assist the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in planning, organizing, and directing payroll and fiscal activities at VCERA. To learn more about the job opening and to apply, click on the link below.



Payroll Title: Retirement Accounting Manager I Position Type: Full-Time Regular Recruitment Period: 7/18/2024 – 8/1/2024 Salary Range: $96,319.60 – $149,830.49 Annually Job Posting: <a href="https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/ventura/jobs/4577579/retirement-accounting-manager-i-ii" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/ventura/jobs/4577579/retirement-accounting-manager-i-ii</a>

VCERA Opens Recruitment for Accounting Manager I

On May 20, 2024, the Board of Retirement voted to adopt a 7.9% interest rate on underpaid benefits stemming from Alameda-related corrections. Members who retired on or after July 30, 2020 who had certain estimated exclusions applied at the time of their initial retirement calculation may be affected.



After the&nbsp;Alameda&nbsp;court decision in July 2020, VCERA staff used the information available to recalculate benefits and began excluding certain items from Final Average Compensation (FAC) calculations to comply with the decision. These exclusions that occurred early in the process after July 2020 were best estimates at that time. Since then, more precise numbers have been calculated by the employers and by VCERA, and some of these exclusions have now been reversed. Such exclusions included 1) the removal of all flex credits for VRSD members, which was later determined to be improper because VRSD had reported only the cashable amount of flex credits, and 2) the removal of situational pay codes in full where it was later determined that only a portion of hours reported with the pay code should be removed. As a result of reversing these exclusions, VCERA has, in some cases, identified a new higher FAC period and has recalculated benefits. The recalculations resulted in underpaid benefits owed to the affected retired members. These missed benefit payments will be treated as back-pay.



Following the board’s May 2024 approval, an interest rate of 7.9% will be applied to these back-payments. This is consistent with a March 2023 board decision to apply the same interest rate to other&nbsp;Alameda&nbsp;corrections. The 7.9% interest rate was selected based on average long-term earnings, and also mirrored the quarterly performance report as of December 31, 2022.



To learn more, visit our <a href="https://live-vcera-691vb.appa.pantheon.site/members/alameda-decision-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alameda-related updates page</a> or view our <a href="https://content.vcera.org/alameda-decision-faqs-and-glossary/">Alameda Decision FAQs &amp; Glossary</a>. You may also find additional information in this <a href="https://content.vcera.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Staff-Letter-Adopt-Interest-Rate-for-Alameda-Related-Corrections.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VCERA staff letter requesting the interest rate adoption</a>.

Board Adopts 7.9% Interest Rate for all Alameda-Related Corrections

Updates & Alerts

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News •February 19, 2025

Social Security Fairness Act

News •February 19, 2025

Open Recruitment for Retirement Benefits Manager

News •February 11, 2025

Alameda Implementation Status Update

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Thinking About Retirement