BUILDING TRUSTED SYSTEMS
Prudent Strategy for a Connected Future
POPULAR ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2024
A Message to Our Members
CCCERA’s Core Values
Trust
Trust and Integrity are the foundation of CCCERA. We will treat all with fairness, dignity, and respect.
Innovation
Enhanced and streamlined processes are beneficial for the plan and its stakeholders. CCCERA continues to engage in continuous improvement to increase efficiencies and effectiveness.
Accountability
Responsibility and reliability are essential. CCCERA will facilitate a professional environment that fosters ownership of work product and services provided to its stakeholders.
CCCERA’s mission is to effectively and accurately administer pension benefits earned by our members and to be prudent stewards of plan assets.
Chief Executive Officer
Christina Dunn
Dear Members,
As Chief Executive Officer, along with the CCCERA team, I am honored to present the Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) for the Year Ended December 31, 2024. The financial data presented in the PAFR is derived from the audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) which presents a detailed overview of CCCERA’s financial, investment, and actuarial-related results for the year. The goal of the PAFR is to provide a highlight summary of CCCERA’s ACFR that allows members and other interested parties to review the fund’s fiscal information, demographics, and service accomplishments.
CCCERA’s investment portfolio returned 8.3% (net of investment management fees) for the year ending December 31, 2024. This return was higher than the policy index return, which was 7.8% for 2024, reflecting market conditions throughout the year.
As of December 31, 2024, CCCERA’s net fiduciary position, or plan assets, totaled $11.6 billion which is the result of $12.2 billion in assets exceeding $0.6 billion in liabilities. The primary use of plan assets include benefit payments to retirees and their beneficiaries, contribution refunds to terminating employees, and costs for administering the system. The funded ratio is 91.0% per the latest actuarial valuation report as of December 31, 2023.
CCCERA has a net pension liability of $1.29 billion as of December 31, 2024. As of the same date, the plan assets as a percentage to the total pension liability is 90.0% and the net pension liability as a percentage of covered payroll is 108.3%. The associated schedules and further additional information for this requirement are shown in the Financial Section of the ACFR.
This PAFR report is not intended to replace the ACFR. Detailed information on the subjects included here and other important aspects of CCCERA’s administration are located in our ACFR at cccera.gov/2024-annual-comprehensive-financial-report.
Respectfully submitted,
Christina Dunn Chief Executive Officer
Major Initiatives and Accomplishments
2025–2028 Strategic Plan
CCCERA updated its strategic plan to define the direction of the organization and unify stakeholders in CCCERA’s mission to effectively and accurately administer pension benefits earned by our members and to be prudent stewards of plan assets.
The strategic plan was developed through an extensive and inclusive process of review, surveying, discussion, and collaboration among CCCERA’s Board of Trustees, members, staff, and participating employers and resulted in an organizational Vision Statement and five strategic themes.
VISION STATEMENT
Our vision is to remain a trusted retirement partner by providing high-quality service to our members, their beneficiaries, and our participating employers, while being the model for pension fund excellence.
THEMES
• Member and Employer Service—Increase communication, training, and information access to members and employers.
• Investments—Review and adjust the investment asset allocation annually based on the funding level, the plan maturity, the historical market conditions, and the risk tolerance of all stakeholders.
• Technology—Implement the new secure pension software system, as well as automated workflows, and portals with strong cyber security.
• Governance—Maintain a strong governance framework with prudent oversight, appropriate delegation, monitoring, transparency and accountability.
• Workforce Development—Attract and retain highly qualified employees who strive to make an impact in their community through CCCERA’s mission and vision.
Pension Administration Project
CCCERA continuously strives to provide excellent customer service, operate the pension plan in an efficient and cost-effective manner, and to maintain member data safely and accurately. To accomplish these principles, a contract was awarded in 2021 for the design and development of a new pension administration system. Testing of newly designed functionality by CCCERA staff and
employers began in April 2023 and continues through 2025 to build and create an innovative system to provide the excellent customer service CCCERA strives for.
Investment Portfolio Management
As an integral part of the investment policy, CCCERA has an internally developed portfolio construction methodology, known as the Functionally Focused Portfolio (FFP), to assign portfolio allocations according to strategic priorities as defined by our Board. The FFP consists of three sub-portfolios; Liquidity, Growth, and Risk Diversifying which demonstrates CCCERA as a prudent steward of plan assets effectively monitoring investment portfolio performance.
Streamlined Retirement Application and Calculation Process
CCCERA redesigned the application process in 2023 to reduce the time it takes for new retirees to receive their first benefit payment. CCCERA commits to retirees who submit completed retirement applications, that their first benefit payment will be no more than 75 days after their last employer paycheck. In 2024, the average processing time was reduced by 20% to 43 days.
Awards for Excellent in Financial Reporting
For the 15th consecutive year, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada presented an award to CCCERA for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting in recognition of its PAFR for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. CCCERA also earned the Public Pension Coordinating Council’s Public Standard Award for 2024 which further recognizes CCCERA’s conformance with the highest standards for preparation of state and local government reports.
2024 Service
Approximately 7,000 payees located in Contra Costa County and nearby communities were paid almost $30 million each month through member earned benefit payments.
CCCERA processed monthly retirement payrolls equaling approximately $50 million to 11,000 payees throughout the world.
Conducted CCCERA’s inaugural comprehensive employer workshop onsite for over 50 participating employer representatives.
Accomplishments
CCCERA responded to over 16,000 phone calls, over 2,400 email inquiries, sent over 4,200 member letters, and distributed over70,000 newsletters during the year.
Conducted 22 member presentations with over 1,200 attendees educating members on CCCERA pension benefits.
Migrated CCCERA’s online and email presence from “.org” to“.gov” to indicate that CCCERA is a trusted government agency.
Participating employers submitted demographic and payroll information via a secure web portal for over 100,000 member records which included over $500 million in retirement contribution payments.
Enrolled over 1,300 new members into the CCCERA retirement benefits plan.
Fiduciary Net Position Restricted for Benefits
As of December 31, 2023, CCCERA had $11.6 billion in net position restricted for benefits, which means that assets of $12.2 billion exceeded liabilities and deferred inflows of resources of $0.6 billion.
The Statement of Fiduciary Net Position and the Statement of Changes in Fiduciary Net Position report CCCERA’s net position restricted for benefits and is one way to measure the plan’s financial position. Over time, increases and decreases in CCCERA’s net position are indicators of whether its financial position is improving or deteriorating. Other factors, such as market conditions, should be considered in measuring CCCERA’s overall financial position.
As of December 31, 2024, the net position restricted for benefits increased by 7.5% compared to 2023, primarily due to positive investment returns. CCCERA’s total investment portfolio returned 8.3%
net of fees for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, more than the policy index return which was 7.8% for 2024. CCCERA’s net of fees annualized rate of return was 1.8% over the last three years, 5.6% over the last five years, and 6.2% over the last 10 years.
Pension Plan Fiduciary Net Position Restricted for Benefits
As of December 31, 2024, and 2023 (Dollars in Thousands)
Pension Plan Fiduciary Net Position Over 10
Changes in Fiduciary Net Position
The primary sources of funding for CCCERA member benefits are employer contributions, plan member contributions, and net investment income. Total additions to fiduciary net position for the years ended December 31, 2024, and 2023, were $1,468 million and $1,389 million, respectively. The increase in the current year is primarily due to positive investment gains earned compared to previous year. Plan member contributions increases over the prior year were mostly due to an increase in plan member rates. Net investment income for the year ended December 31, 2024, totaled $937.8 million.
CCCERA’s plan assets can only be used to make benefit payments to retirees and beneficiaries, contribution refunds to terminated employees, and pay the cost of administering the system. Total deductions from fiduciary net position for the years ended December 31, 2024, and 2023,
Fiscal
were $656.4 million and $633.8 million, respectively. The majority of the increase in deductions is attributed to benefits paid to retirees and beneficiaries which were $620.9 million in 2024, an increase of $26.4 million, or 4.4% over 2023. The growth in benefit payments was due to a combination of the following: (1) the net increase in the number of retirees and beneficiaries for the year, and (2) the increase in average retirement allowances of those added to the retirement payroll.
Year 2024 Net Investment Income/(Loss) Summary (Dollars
Long-Term Asset Allocation
(Adopted by the Board, July 2024)
Asset Allocation and Investment Results
Asset allocation is an integral part of CCCERA’s investment policy. CCCERA’s Chief Investment Officer and its outside investment consultants (Verus and Stepstone) assist the Board of Retirement in designing strategic diversification strategies using the internally developed Functionally Focused Portfolio methodology to maintain steady, long-term gains, with appropriate risk. Please refer to the ACFR for additional information.
The main investment goal is for the total return to exceed the policy index return, which was 7.8% for 2024. As mentioned, for the year ended December 31, 2024, the total return was 8.3% after fees.
Actuarial Funding Status
In order to determine whether the pension plan’s net position restricted for benefits will be sufficient to meet future obligations, the actuarial funding status needs to be calculated. An actuarial valuation is similar to an inventory process. On the valuation date, the assets available for the payment of retirement benefits are appraised, with gains and losses over the previous five years smoothed to avoid significant swings in the value of assets from one year to the next. These assets are compared to the actuarial accrued liabilities, which are the actuarial present value of future benefits (attributable to service already earned) expected to be paid for each member.
The purpose of the valuation is to determine what future contributions by the members and by the employers are needed to pay all expected future benefits. Valuation Value of Assets
Funded Ratio
Funded Ratio is a measurement of the funded status of the plan. The Funded Ratio is calculated by dividing the Valuation Assets by the Actuarial Accrued Liability.
Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability
Membership
CCCERA’s membership consists of full and part-time employees, members who have left employment service and have deferred their receipt of retirement benefits, and retirees and their beneficiaries from the County of Contra Costa and participating employers and districts.
CCCERA’s total membership as of December 31, 2024 is 26,024.
The Average Benefit Payments
The chart below is a broad representation of average benefits paid monthly over last 10 years to retirees and beneficiaries through December 31, 2024. Both general and safety member figures are combined in this calculation, as are all tiers.
Revenue By Source
Public pension systems like CCCERA have three main funding sources: employer contributions, employee contributions, and investment returns. It is a common misconception that employers pay the bulk of pension expenses. In fact, the largest funding source consistently is investment returns.
CCCERA’s actuarial valuations are performed annually as of December 31 each year. Contribution requirements and rates resulting from such valuations become effective 18 months after the valuation date. For example, the funding valuation as of December 31, 2023, and the resulting contribution rates become effective on July 1, 2025.
(Average over the last ten years.) Prudent
What’s in your pension dollar?
2024 Board of Retirement
(As of December 31, 2024)
Scott W. Gordon Chairperson
David J. MacDonald Vice-Chairperson
Jerry R. Holcombe Secretary
Dan Mierzwa County Treasurer
Candace Andersen
John B. Phillips
Samson Wong
Louie Kroll
Dennis Chebotarev
Mike Sloan (Retiree Alternate)
Jay Kwon (Appointed Alternate)
Donnie Finley (Safety Alternate)
More About CCCERA
CCCERA’s website, cccera.gov, provides resources for members, employers and the public. In addition to the ACFR, it features forms, handbooks, video tutorials, a calculator to estimate retirement benefits, and more.
CCCERA also has a Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube account! Follow us @CCCERA1945.
1200 Concord Avenue, Suite 300, Concord, CA 94520
Phone: (925)521-3960 Fax: (925)521-3969 cccera.gov
Popular Annual FINANCIAL REPORT FOR MEMBERS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2024
CCCERA Participating Employers
• County of Contra Costa
• Bethel Island Municipal Improvement District
• Byron-BrentwoodKnightsen Union Cemetery
• Central Contra Costa Sanitary District
• Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association
• Contra Costa Fire Protection District
• Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District
• First 5 – Contra Costa Children & Families Commission
• Housing Authority of the County of Contra Costa
• In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority (IHSS)
• Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO)
• Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District
• Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District
• Rodeo Sanitary District
• San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District
• Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa