Retirement Reform Lessons: The Experience of Palm Beach Public Safety Pensions
A new case study examines the impacts of the actions of the Town of Palm Beach when substantial changes were made to the retirement plans offered to the town’s employees. The case study details the 2012 decision by the Palm Beach Town Council to close its existing defined benefit (DB) pension systems for its employees, including police officers and firefighters.
Retirement Reform Lessons: The Experience of Palm Beach Public Safety Pensions outlines how the “combined” retirement plans offered dramatically lower DB pension benefits and new individual 401(k)-style defined contribution (DC) retirement accounts. Following a large, swift exodus of public safety employees to neighboring employers that increased costs in human resource areas, the town reconsidered the changes. In 2016, the Town Council voted to abandon the DC plans and to improve the pension plan.
Workforce Turnover and Retention in the Public Sector: Insights from Public Pension Plans
This report examines how retention changes over public employees’ careers and varies across public workforces and retirement systems. The analysis draws on actuarial turnover assumptions and other information collected from 136 state-administered public pension plans representing 203 plan-employee groups and 12.8 million active members.
