Augusta City committee receives strong 2025 pension results; COLA set at 2.2% per plan documents

Heather Siegler, the presenter on the pension accounts, told the Augusta City committee that the city's two pension plans posted strong returns in fiscal 2025 and remain in good funding position. She said, "We had a really good year," and noted the S&P 500 was up 2.65% for the fourth quarter and "ended the year up just over 17.8%." Siegler also reported that international markets outperformed domestic markets in 2025 and that fixed income returns benefited from several Federal Reserve rate cuts late in the year.

Siegler gave plan-level figures for both accounts. For the 1949 plan she said the fund began the fiscal year at just over $77,801,000, paid about $8,481,000 in distributions, earned roughly $11,240,650 in investment gains and finished the year with an ending market value "just over $80,560,000." She reported an allocation near 59.6% in domestic equities and about 15% in international equities, leaving total equity around 74% of the portfolio. For the smaller 1945 plan she said the fiscal-year beginning market value was $5,472,766, distributions totaled about $545,812, investment gains were just over $501,000, and the plan ended the year at about $5,428,690 with about 54% in domestic equities and 44% in fixed income.

On contributions and funding, Siegler said the city contributed approximately $1,830,000 to the 1949 plan and about $439,000 to the 1945 plan in the last fiscal year. She told the committee she did not have the latest actuarial valuation available at the meeting but expected that report to be presented later in the year; the last valuation she recalled seeing was about two years old and showed the fund approximately 87% funded. When asked what would happen if markets declined, Siegler explained the committee's approach: "We go ahead and start pulling aside funds, to be able to meet those pensioner benefits because...we don't want to be forced to sell when the market is down," and said the committee manages near-term cash to avoid taking market risk on funds needed immediately.

The committee voted, by voice and without recorded objection, to receive Siegler's presentation as information. Mayor Pro Tem Gil Fall initiated questions about pension stability and requested the actuarial valuation when available; Siegler agreed to follow up and obtain the latest valuation for the committee.

Under Item 2, the madam administrator told the committee that "in accordance to our...plan documents and it goes by the CPI" there will be a 2.2% cost-of-living adjustment for both the 1945 and 1949 pension plans. The committee received that information with no objection. The meeting concluded with members thanking Siegler for the presentation.

The next procedural step noted at the meeting was for staff or the actuary to supply the committee with the most recent actuarial valuation when it is complete (typically expected later in the second or third quarter).