No. 200 - December 23, 2011

To: School Boards, Active/Inactive Plan Participants and Retirees on August 31, 2011
From: Howard Van Mersbergen, Executive Secretary-Treasurer

Annual Funding Notice - Federally required funding information

Understanding the Annual Funding Notice - What is included in the notice.

Contact CSI for Support - Contact us if you have questions or need assistance.

Annual Funding Notice

The Pension Protection Act (PPA), enacted in 2006, requires sponsors of defined benefit pension plans, such as the CSI Pension Plan, to provide plan participants with certain information about the funded status of their plan.  The attached “Annual Funding Notice for the Christian School Pension Plan“ meets this annual requirement.  Before reviewing the Notice, it’s helpful for you to have some context for the information it includes.  This cover memo should help you better understand the Funding Notice.

Understanding the Annual Funding Notice

Defined benefit plans are designed to provide plan participants with a benefit at retirement based on the Plan’s formula.  In order to help ensure sufficient funds exist to pay for these future retirement benefits, contributions are made into a trust fund and that money is set aside for plan benefits and invested based on established investment guidelines.  The Plan’s funding policy and investment policy are outlined in the attached Notice.  Federal guidelines and reviews made by outside actuaries who look at both how much is in the trust (assets) and future obligations for benefits (liabilities) can impact the timing and amount of contributions. 

The asset and liability measures used by our outside actuaries to determine annual minimum required contributions to the Plan for 2008, 2009 and 2010 are summarized in the “Funding Target Attainment Percentage“ chart on page 1 of the Notice.  These values are as of September 1 of the respective year. 

Also on page 1 of the Notice, you’ll see the “Year-End Assets and Liabilities“ section.  This section shows plan assets and estimated liabilities as of August 31, 2011.  These values are calculated differently than those used to determine the Funding Target Attainment Percentage (page 1).  Our actuaries are preparing the annual actuarial valuation for August 31, 2011.  This actuarial valuation will include a more precise measure of the liabilities.

Contact CSI for Support

More information about CSI’s benefit plans and past Updates are located on our web site at http://www.CSIonline.org. Select Employee Benefits and the appropriate plan. If you have questions, contact Merrilee Kwantes at 616-284-3227 or toll free at 877-274-8796, ext. 227 or contact her by email at .

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