OPEB Summary Report

Report on Other Postemployment Benefits

The data available in the report below may be sorted with any of the available headers by clicking on the header. You can also search for a specific entity by entering the name in the search box. If you would like to expand your view, you can do so by updating the "show entries" field. 

A "+" symbol next to an entity name indicates you can click to expand a row and view additional information, if available. Some entities have not provided any information as of the date of this report, or have indicated that they have no plan. 

To download a printable version of the report go to "Additional Resources" below the report and click on the link to the pdf.

We will continue to add reports to this page as the data becomes available. Data in the reports will be as of the date listed for each report. 

The data in this report was compiled by PERAC's Actuarial Unit. 

Commonwealth, Cities, and Towns

December 2021 OPEB Summary Report, dollars in thousands *

2021 OPEB Summary Report-0119.csv

* Data as of 12/7/2021. See footnotes below. 

Additional Resources

Download the 2021 OPEB Summary Report

Footnotes and Comments

• PERAC’s first Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) Summary Report was released in 2016. That report reflected Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) requirements at the time. This latest report reflects the current GASB 74 and GASB 75 standards.

• This report reflects the most recent actuarial information for the Commonwealth, cities, and towns that was provided to PERAC as of December 7, 2021. Information received after December 7 will be included in subsequent Summary Reports. In addition, information for other entities that provide OPEB benefits, including school districts, water and light districts, authorities, and collaboratives will be provided in future reports.

• Our report reflects the results provided by over 25 actuarial firms.

• A number of towns indicated that no OPEB benefits were provided by the town or there was no plan and this is noted in the Summary Report. A number of towns did not provide us an OPEB valuation report and these towns may or may not have OPEB liabilities. Several towns indicated that there was no recent OPEB study, but the town intended to undertake one in the next two years.

• All dollar amounts are in thousands.

• The Summary report details the Measurement Date, Total OPEB Liability (TOL), Financial Net Position (FNP, or Assets), Net OPEB Liability (TOL less FNP, often referred to as Unfunded Liability), Funded Ratio (TOL/FNP), and Blended Discount Rate. The Blended Discount Rate is the single rate that reflects the present value of projected benefit payments using a long-term expected rate of return for years in which assets are projected to be sufficient to make projected benefit payments, and a tax-exempt high-quality municipal bond rate for years in which assets are projected to not be sufficient to make projected benefit payments. If assets are projected to be sufficient to pay all future projected benefits, the Blended Discount Rate will reflect the long-term expected rate of return. Likewise, if assets are not projected to be sufficient to make any projected benefits, the Blended Discount Rate will reflect the municipal bond rate. If assets are projected to be sufficient to pay only a portion of the projected benefits, the Blended Discount Rate will fall between the two rates.

• The cumulative Total OPEB Liability for all entities that reported is approximately $56.1 billion. The cumulative Financial Net Position is approximately $3.3 billion resulting in a cumulative Net OPEB Liability of $52.8 billion and a funded ratio of 5.9%.

• We maintain a spreadsheet of information regarding OPEB valuations that is constantly updated as we receive additional valuation reports and disclosures. The spreadsheet includes the number of active and retired members, service cost, actuarial assumptions, and certain plan provisions. We may incorporate some of these items in future reports.

Notes on Actuarial Assumptions

Discount Rate

We have shown only the Blended Discount Rate in our Summary Report because it is the interest rate used to determine plan liabilities.  The long-term rate of return on assets and the municipal bond rate are not always shown in valuation reports.

Medical Trend

The medical trend assumption varies by plan and by actuary. Initial rates are generally 4.5% - 8.0%.  The ultimate trend rate is generally 3.5% - 4.5%. The year in which the ultimate trend is assumed varies widely from 2020 – 2075.

Mortality

All plans (except small plans) use a generational mortality assumption.  The vast majority of plans (about 80%) use some version of the RP-2014 mortality table.  A much smaller number of plans use a version of the RP-2000 or the Society of Actuaries Pub-2010 mortality tables.  As updated reports are submitted, we find that many that previously used RP-2000, have adopted RP-2014.  For mortality improvement, most plans reflect a version of the MP scale.