Illinois Great Rivers Conference 2025 Journal-Yearbook
to the annual conference. The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits shall determine the aggregate funding obligations of the annual conference using market factors similar to a commercial annuity provider, from which the annual conference will determine the local church’s share. Nothing in the foregoing prevents an annual conference from collecting other obligations from a church or charge. The difference between the IGRC pension plans as being fully funded using a “funding basis” assessment as compared to the IGRC pension plans not being fully funded using an aggregate funding obligation with a “market based” assessment can be confusing and complicated. However, the following is to help provide clarity. • Under a set of assumptions of a stable financial support base (i.e., churches), investment markets performing in the future like the past, predictable participation and mortality rates, this assessment is a “funding basis,” a term actuaries use to apply to the situation described. The IGRC pension plans based on these premises are fully funded. • Wespath, for the purpose of ¶ 1504.23 applied a more conservative aggregate funding obligation assessment using a “market based” methodology to value pension liabilities with an uncertain future. The IGRC pension plans based on these premises are underfunded. • An analysis of the pension valuation methodology considered for ¶ 1504.23 is outlined in the Book of Discipline and a different method cannot be considered. The IGRC aggregate funding obligation using the “market based” methodology has an underfunded status as of January 1, 2025, of $15,297,922. New Clergy Retirement Plan Approved at the General Conference 2024 The Medicare Supplement benefit provided by the Illinois Great Rivers Conference is a self-funded benefit designed for IGRC clergy that meet the eligibility rules established in 2024. The plan is administered through a third-party administrator, UMR. The self-funded Medicare Supplement benefit is funded by the IGRC Medicare Supplement fund, the plan participant premiums, and donations from PASBF to the Medicare Supplement fund. Since 2008 PASBF has generously donated to the fund and since 2012 has provided $1.5 Million annually towards the fund. Since the fund is fully funded, PASBF is reducing their $1.5 Million annual donation to the fund by $250,000 per year starting in 2024. The IGRC Board of Pension and Benefits thanks PASBF for their support and dedication to the IGRC retirees. At the end of each fiscal year an actuary, currently Willis Towers Watson, completes a valuation of the projected liability to the Conference for the Medicare Supplement benefit for eligible and future retirees and their spouses. This valuation uses current information and variables and clearly illustrates those variables in the report. The Medicare Supplement benefit liability is then compared with the IGRC fund balance. Compass begins January 2026 Medicare Supplement Benefit
Legislative Items 129
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