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 Clear Lake in snow, photographed by PERS employee Radford Bean
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For employer reporters
Member redirect and salary limit updates for 2025
Every January, the PERS Board adjusts certain dollar amounts that must maintain accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the West Region. This ensures that our numbers keep pace with increases in inflation and the cost of living.
The dollar amounts affected are the annual salary limit and the monthly member redirect salary threshold. These limits help control increases in employer contribution rates.
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Based on the 2024 CPI increase of 2.4% over 2023, the updated numbers are as shown below.
Member redirect 2025 monthly threshold
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Salary limit 2025 annual and monthly amounts
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$3,777/month
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$238,567/year
$19,880.50/one month*
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PERS members who earn over that amount in a calendar month have a percentage of their 6% Individual Account Program (IAP) contribution redirected into their Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA):
Tier One/Tier Two members — 2.5% of 6% IAP contribution goes to EPSA, 3.5% goes to IAP.
Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP) members — 0.75% of 6% IAP contribution goes to EPSA, 5.25% goes to IAP.
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Partial year: To access the salary limit for a partial year (i.e., one to eleven months), go to the Partial-Year Salary Limits webpage.
A partial year is one in which an employee works fewer than 12 months.
*This is the salary limit for one month. To get the salary limit for more than one month, check "Prorating Partial-Year Salary Limits by Month" on the Partial-Year Salary Limits webpage. Do not multiply this one-month amount by the number of months worked.
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Learn more about the Member Redirect Program, EPSA, and voluntary contributions on the employers’ Member Redirect webpage.
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Learn more about how the salary limit affects PERS reporting on the Salary Limit: Information for Employer Reporters webpage.
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For all employers
New way to give feedback on resources
Announcing new Employer Resource Feedback Form on PERS website
PERS aims to provide the most clear and useful resources possible for employer reporters, web administrators, agency heads, finance professionals, and human resources professionals.
We want to know if the resources we provide are hitting the mark and how they can serve you better.
Use this form to provide feedback, suggestions, or praise on all the resources and publications we provide for employers on the PERS website.
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For finance professionals and agency heads
What causes contribution rate changes?
 PERS retirement benefits are primarily funded by the contributions that employers pay and by money that the PERS Fund’s investments earn. The contribution rate your organization pays is carefully calculated to cover what actuarial experts expect your costs to be (along with covering any past shortfalls and other debts or charges). The rate is designed to absorb variations in assets and liabilities while remaining as low as possible.
Therefore, this balance of projections versus actuals is delicate. If any of the predicted factors — such as payroll growth, number of retirements, or investment returns — veers significantly from its predicted amount, the result can be either excellent returns (as in 2021) or a loss that forces a rate increase (as in 2023).
Let’s look closer at the top factors that can lead to a rate increase. All four of these factors affected the increased 2025-27 rates:
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Total payroll increases more than expected (i.e., PERS-participating employers have increases in staff, increases in pay, or both).
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Actual investment returns fall short of what was anticipated.
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Member and retiree demographics differ from assumptions (e.g., longer life expectancies, people retiring at earlier ages than anticipated), which leads to retirees receiving pension payouts for a longer time.
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PERS benefits increase per a mandate from the Oregon Legislature. This increases rates in two ways:
- Because member contribution rates (e.g., the percentage that members
contribute to their Employee Pension Stability Accounts (EPSA) through the Member Redirect program) are a set percentage, any increases in benefits must be paid by increasing rates for some or all PERS-participating employers.
- Employers who employ the members who are receiving the greater benefit must pay a higher contribution rate for those employees (e.g., those employing OPSRP Police and Fire members who can now retire five years earlier will be paying a higher rate for those employees in the 2025-27
biennium).
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To learn more about your organization’s contribution rates and how you may be able to reduce them, read the Controlling Your Costs webpage and/or reach out to the PERS Actuarial Services Team by email at actuarial.services@pers.oregon.gov.
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For finance professionals and agency heads
Controlling your rate: the hidden costs of ‘pension spiking’
When an employee inflates their salary in the three years preceding retirement to increase their final average salary (FAS) and, thus, their pension, this is called “pension spiking.” It is most often done by working extra overtime or paying an employee significantly large payments and reporting them as regular wages.
This practice increases retirees’ incomes but hurts your organization’s bottom line. PERS actuaries base your rate partially on an assumption that your payroll will increase an average of 3.4% a year. If your organization’s payroll increases more than that, your contribution rate will increase to cover the shortage.
How to control pension spiking
For tips on curbing the practice of pension spiking, read the article “Controlling Your Rate” on page 5 of the December 2023 Employer News.
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For employer reporters
Annual OPSRP loss-of-membership status applied in January
On January 17, 2025, PERS will run an EDX report that searches for all OPSRP members who qualify for loss-of-membership (LOM) status as of December 31, 2024.
OPSRP members who are not vested* and who have worked fewer than 600 hours for the last five years go into OPSRP LOM status. This means that the member:
- Is terminated, if they weren’t already.
- Forfeits all retirement credit that they earned.
- Terminates their OPSRP Pension Program membership.
- Needs to serve a new six-month wait time to reestablish membership if they are employed by a participating public employer in a qualifying position in the future.
- Retains their Individual Account Program (IAP) account (LOM in the OPSRP Pension Program does not impact OPSRP IAP membership).
What if this member still works for you?
You will need to ask PERS to create a new employment segment with a new start date. Submit a Demographic Correction Request (DCR) asking an Employer Service Center staff member to add an appropriate employment start date. For instructions on submitting a DCR, read employer reporting guide 20, Creating a Demographic Correction Request.
For more information on LOM, read section “PERS Membership,” subsection “Maintaining Membership,” in employer reporting guide 1, Overview of PERS.
*When a member is vested in their pension, they are guaranteed to receive a pension at retirement unless they withdraw their membership. For information on how to vest, read section “PERS Pension,” subsection “Vesting in the Pension Program,” in employer reporting guide 1, Overview of PERS.
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For employer reporters
Shoot for the star
It’s a new year and a new chance to shoot for the star — the Superhero Gold Star Award, that is.
Every year, the PERS Employer Service Center acknowledges and recognizes the hard work and effort that goes into timely reporting.
Employers who submit all their Regular reports on time* for the whole year will receive a Superhero Gold Star Award.
2025 Regular report due dates.
*Within three business days after the report due date.
Benefits of posting all Regular reports on time
1. Prior-year earnings (if any) paid by the PERS Board instead of by your organization because you will have all your records posted by official year-end in March.
2. Easier account reconciliation.
3. Accurate member annual statements for employees.
4. Faster and easier retirement process.
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For finance professionals
2024 PERS annual reports published
PERS Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) This is a new type of report for PERS. It provides an overview of the financial information that is covered in detail in the agency’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
PERS by the Numbers This report offers data and demographics of Oregon PERS, such as the number of members, system funding status, how much each tier costs the system, and how much of their prior salary retirees are earning.
PERS Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) This report, intended for finance professionals, provides financial statements for all funds over which the PERS Board has authority. These funds provide retirement, death, and disability benefits and other postemployment benefits to members; administer retiree health insurance programs; and oversee the state-sponsored deferred compensation program. The ACFR also includes a narrative analysis of the system’s financial performance.
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Need help?
Contact the Employer Service Center to ask questions and get one-on-one reporting help.
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