Thursday, March 13, 2008
Independent Study Finds Iowa’s Pension Plan Is #1 In Low Costs
DES MOINES –(Des Moines) Today, Governor Chet Culver praised the results of an independent study that found the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS) had the lowest administration costs among government pension plan organizations of similar size. IPERS also ranked lowest in costs the previous year.
“I want to congratulate IPERS for receiving this designation,” said Governor Culver. “More than 310,000 Iowans count on IPERS every year to maintain a high quality-of-life and meet their retirement needs. The results of this national survey should once again assure public employees that IPERS is one of the best public employee pension plans in America.”
The study was performed by CEM Benchmarking Inc., which showed IPERS’ administration costs during fiscal year 2007 were less than half the median cost, making IPERS the lowest-cost provider in the comparison group. IPERS provides pensions to teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other government employees.
CEM Benchmarking is a private company based in Canada that reviews performance and costs of public pension plans in the United States and abroad. The company reviewed 74 pension organizations and compared IPERS to 16 from the group that are similar in memberships.
| RATING | IPERS | COMPARISON GROUP MEDIAN |
| Administration Cost | $35 | $73 |
| Service | 82 | 78 |
IPERS has more than 310,000 members. About 85,000 retirees and their beneficiaries receive IPERS retirement benefits. IPERS paid more than $1 billion in retirement benefits during the last fiscal year, and over 88 percent of that stayed in Iowa. IPERS’ assets exceed $20 billion.