This section of the manual explains the participating employer IMRF contribution rate.
Employers with Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Personnel (SLEP) members have separate rates. Employers with Elected County Official (ECO) plan members have separate ECO rates. Public Act 96-0889 created a second tier of IMRF benefits for members who are first enrolled in IMRF's Regular or ECO Plans on or after January 1, 2011. Employers with members in both tiers, e.g., Regular Tier 1 and Regular Tier 2, will have a combined Regular rate.
The IMRF Board of Trustees appoints an actuary to provide all the actuarial services required by IMRF. One of the functions of the actuary is to determine participating employer IMRF contribution rates. These rates are established separately for each employer and are recomputed annually to reflect changes in funding requirements.
In 2009, the Board took several actions to moderate the impact of 2008 investment losses on employers’ funded status and contribution rates. It made three changes to the actuarial techniques used to calculate employer funded status and the actuarial required contribution rates (ARC):
Widened the allowable corridor between the market and actuarial value of assets from 15% to 20%;
Changed the amortization method from a closed to a rolling one and changed the period to 30 years for taxing bodies and 10 years for non-taxing bodies (In 2011 the IMRF Board changed the amortization period for taxing bodies to a closed 30-year period beginning for 2013 which will reduce to 15 years at which time it will be a 15-year rolling period); and
Increased the threshold for the rapid amortization of over funding credits to reduce employer contribution rates from 100% to 120%.
Learn about Employer Contributions from the topics below: