Administration of Prior Non-LAGERS Retirement Plans

PURPOSE: This rule further defines the procedures to be used when a political subdivision and the Missouri Local Government Employees’ Retirement System (LAGERS) enter into an agreement for LAGERS to assume all duties and responsibilities for operating the political subdivision’s prior retirement plan pursuant to section 70.621, RSMo. (1) As used in this rule, the terms below shall be defined as follows: (A) “LAGERS Plan” means a political subdivision’s active retirement benefit program with LAGERS; and (B) “Legacy Plan” means a plan similar in purpose to LAGERS for which the political subdivision and LAGERS have entered into an agreement whereby LAGERS assumes all duties and responsibilities of operating the plan pursuant to 70.621, RSMo. (2) When calculating an employer’s contribution rate pursuant to 70.730, RSMo when the employer and LAGERS have entered into an agreement for LAGERS to administer the member’s Legacy Plan, the following procedures shall be applied: (A) For purposes of computing the employer contribution rates under section 70.730, RSMo, separate employer contribution rates will be computed for the LAGERS Plan and the Legacy Plan. The contribution rate for the Legacy Plan will EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM (LAGERS) be expressed as a dollar amount; (B) For the purposes of calculating the limitation on increases to an employer’s contribution provided by subsection 6 of 70.730, RSMo, the employer contribution rate will be calculated as a combined employer contribution rate expressed as a percentage of total (i.e., LAGERS Plan plus Legacy Plan) payroll, including when the Legacy Plan has active members and when the Legacy Plan does not have active members. Both the LAGERS Plan contribution rate and the combined employer contribution rate shall be subject to the limitation on increases to an employer’s contribution rate; (C) For the first year in which the Legacy Plan is operated by LAGERS, the limitation on increases in an employer’s contribution provided by subsection 6 of 70.730, RSMo shall not apply to any contribution increase; and (D) The Board of Trustees may, in its sole discretion, elect to establish a fixed payment schedule for a Legacy Plan. At such time as a fixed payment schedule is established, a combined employer contribution rate, as described above in subsection (2)(B), will no longer be calculated and the employer contribution rate will again be expressed as a percentage of total LAGERS Plan payroll. For the first year in which a fixed payment schedule is established and the combined employer contribution rate is no longer calculated, the limitation on increases in an employer’s contribution provided by subsection 6 of 70.730, RSMo shall not apply to any contribution increase. (3) An active, deferred, or retired member of a Legacy Plan shall not be eligible to hold the position of a member trustee on the LAGERS Board of Trustees, to serve as a member delegate to the LAGERS annual meeting, or to participate in the election of the member delegate to attend the LAGERS annual meeting. However, an active, deferred, or retired member of a Legacy Plan may be eligible to hold the position of an employer trustee on the LAGERS Board of Trustees or the trustee appointed by the governor, provided that he or she meets the other criteria for eligibility for those positions. AUTHORITY: sections 70.605.21 and 70.621.4, RSMo 2016.* Original rule filed May 1, 2018, effective Oct. 30, 2018. *Original authority: 70.605, RSMo 1967, amended 1974, 1992, 2000, 2003, 2013 and 70.621, RSMo 2016.