PERA provides the fire chief and governing body representatives with an Annual Funding Report by August 1, in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 353G.08.
This report:
Certifies any required contribution due from the governing body due by December 31 of next year.
Contains financial schedules predicted to show each fire department’s
Pension assets
Liabilities
Funding status
Pre-set Benefit Level increase analysis
Active Member Service Report
The fire chief and governing body should review this report and consider whether to increase the fire department’s benefit level. See the Increasing the SVF Plan Benefit Level handout for information and instructions.
The fire chief and governing body should share the report information with their volunteer firefighters in accordance with the data practices policies of the governing body.
PERA provides GASB 68 reports and disclosures to fire department governing bodies that follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) using a one year look back. These GASB 68 reports provide governing bodies with information needed to complete their audited financial statements. For more information on the GASB 68 reports, please see the GASB 68 Toolkit.
SBI Plan Investments
Investment of SVF Plan Assets
The State Board of Investment (SBI) invests the Statewide Volunteer Firefighter (SVF) Plan pension assets for each fire department individually. SBI is a state agency separate from PERA.
How to Access the Fire Department’s SVF Plan Investment Account
SBI provides the fire chief and governing body representative(s) with electronic access to view their SVF Plan assets at any time.
To establish access or change the representatives with access to the fire department’s SBI account, contact us at PERASVF@mnpera.org.
SBI account access is not provided to individual volunteer firefighters and does not currently provide volunteer firefighters with individual benefit statements or reports.
Additional SVF Plan Investment Information
For more information on SBI and its investment of the SVF Plan assets, visit their website.
