Public Employee Press

Annuity Fund issues report

The DC 37 AFSCME Annuity Fund Plan issued its annual statement to its nearly 75,000 account holders in July.

In fiscal year 2006, which ended June 30, the return on fund investments was 2.5 percent. The net return after administrative fees was 1.1 percent.

Since fiscal year 2000, the fund’s assets have grown from $34.6 million to $53.6 million. Cumulative earnings since its inception June 1, 1999, are just under 40 percent.

The union established the annuity under the 1995-2000 contract, which provided a $522 deposit in a tax-deferred annuity savings account for qualified members. That sum has grown to nearly $640 today.

Some locals have negotiated recurring annuities, putting additional compensation from later contracts into members’ accounts.

Because of this additional investing and income compounding, the dollar value and the rate of return on the recurring annuities are higher than the accounts getting only income based on the original $522.
About 8,000 members have recurring annuities, with daily deposits ranging from $1 to more than $4, and some of these accounts are worth over $7,000.

“The annuity is meant to be a nest egg for eligible members, and the union has left it up to our locals to decide whether they want to build up the investments in their accounts,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, who is a trustee along with DC 37 President and Local 372 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa and DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray.

“Clearly, you get the biggest bang for the buck through regular investing,” said Local 1320 President James Tucciarelli, chair of the DC 37 Annuity Committee. “Locals that haven’t gone afterrecurring annuities have used the extra available funds for other priorities, such as across-the-board pay increases, differentials and longevities. So, in those instances, the annuities don’t experience the maximum growth.”

Amalgamated Bank manages the annuity fund. About 35 percent of the fund’s assets are in stocks, and 65 percent are in bonds. The fund’s rates of return roughly matched the market’s benchmarks. For questions, call the fund at 212-815-1888.