Ridgeline Municipal Strategies, LLC (“Ridgeline”), an independent registered municipal advisory and financial consulting firm, recently helped the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District with development of a comprehensive pension cost optimization strategy.
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (“METRO”) was formed in 1969 to provide bus service in the Santa Cruz County. Today METRO has almost 800 active bus stops serviced by a diverse fleet of buses and paratransit vehicles. It’s annual operating budget is approximately $55 million.
METRO offers its employees pension and post-employment healthcare benefits. The pension benefits are provided through the California Public Employees' Retirement System ("CalPERS"). The healthcare benefits are covered by METRO on the pay-go basis.
With a $68 million unfunded accrued pension liability and a $124 million other post-employment benefit ("OPEB") liability, METRO was looking for ways to manage its future pension and healthcare costs.
METRO retained Ridgeline to help it develop an in-depth understanding of its pension and OPEB liabilities and analyze a variety of strategies to reduce pension costs.
Ridgeline performed a comprehensive analysis of METRO’s pension and OPEB liabilities and prepared extensive educational materials for the METRO’s staff. We then modeled the financial impacts and multiple scenarios for a variety of pension cost optimization strategies, including the following:
With the help of our analysis, METRO ultimately decided to pursue issuance of pension obligation bonds and formation of a Section 115 Trust.
Contact Ridgeline to find out how we can help your agency optimize its pension costs and liabilities.
Fire mitigation fees help fire departments get funding for new facilities and apparatus. Ridgeline’s best practices guide shows how to plan, implement, and manage fire mitigation fees for maximum impact.
Read this postRidgeline's principal, Dmitry Semenov, is speaking on the current topics in fire department financing at the California Fire Training Officers' Fresno Symposium on March 20, 2024.
Read this postRidgeline's principal, Dmitry Semenov, spoke on the municipal bond financing at the 2023 League of California Cities' Municipal Finance Institute.
Read this postRidgeline served as a municipal advisor on the issuance of the $10,925,000 Water Revenue Certificates of Participation with $12,000,000 in proceeds for the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District.
Read this post