Oregon Public Employees Retirement System

June Employer News

Oregon Public Employees Retirement System sent this bulletin at 06/02/2025 12:00 PM PDT

JUNE 2025

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Sedums atop Mount June, Umpqua National Forest

In this issue

Finance, agency heads, employer reporters
New contribution rates effective July 1

All employers
Thank you

Finance, agency heads
Employer Incentive Fund opens to all employers on July 1

Human resources, benefits
Did you know? PERS offers health insurance for retirees

Employer reporters
EDX tip: When someone stops working for you, take these four steps

Employer reporters, web administrators
Congratulations for 21 years of EDX excellence

What’s going on

30-second newsletter summary

JULY 1 is a big day for finance people and agency heads.

New 2025-27 rates start. Most employers can find their new rates in three places. School employers: your rates will be reduced by a new senate bill; you can find your new rates online. Employer reporters, be careful with report timing.
The Employer Incentive Fund program opens to all employers. Use the provided resources to apply and reduce your contribution rate.

PERS RETIREMENT includes optional PERS health insurance for retirees. Speaking of retirement (or any reason for termination), employer reporters need to do four things when an employee stops working for you.

THANK YOU to our expert employer reporters and web administrators who have been wrangling EDX from day one. And lastly, thank you to everyone who took the employer survey. Your input helps everyone!

For finance officers, agency heads, and employer reporters

New contribution rates effective July 1

The new employer contribution rates for the 2025-27 biennium go into effect on July 1.

The rates are effective for pay dates on and after July 1, even if the pay is for work performed before that date.

The new rates affect the contribution rates that you are charged on your qualifying employees’ salaries and payments. Individual Account Program (IAP) contributions are unaffected and remain at 6%.

School district rates

School districts’ 2025-27 contribution rates will be reduced by an average of 1.68% thanks to the passage of Senate Bill 849. The bill directs PERS to apply the funds in the School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund (SDULF) to reduce school districts’ contribution rates for the 2025-27 biennium.

This applies to all public-school districts, public charter schools, and education service districts whether or not they have a side account; however, it cannot reduce a net contribution rate to less than 0%.

Note: The reduction applies to the increased 2025-27 rates approved by the PERS Board in 2024. Even with the SB 849 rate reduction, some districts’ 2025-27 rates may still be higher than their 2023-25 rates.

Reporting July payroll

To avoid disruption, please do not report July payroll before Monday, June 16.

Actuarial staff need to to update Employer Data Exchange (EDX) with the reduced school contribution rates that are effective July 1, 2025. They could not begin this process until June because they had to wait until the PERS Board approved the rates at the May 30 board meeting.

If you have questions about the timing of your reporting, reach out to your Employer Service Center representative.

Find your 2025-27 rates

Employer

School district employers

All other employers

Where to find new rates

1. In the Revised School District Contribution Rates 2025-27 (PDF) document.

2. In the newly updated Contributions Rates 2025-27 (PDF) document on the Contributions Rates webpage.

3. As of July 1, on your statement in EDX.¹

1. In the Contributions Rates 2025-27 (PDF) document on the Contributions Rates webpage.

2. In your actuarial valuation report that you downloaded from the Actuarial Valuations webpage.

3. As of July 1, on your statement in EDX.¹

¹To find your rates on your remittance statement, click the View Your Statement function in EDX. For more information, read employer guide 26, Understanding Your Statement, section “Tab 1: Current Contribution Rates.”

Employers who have unique rates

Each member of the State and Local Government Rate Pool (SLGRP) pays an individual rate, as do School District Pool employers who have one or more side accounts.

SLGRP employers also pay separate rates for employees in these different plans and job classifications:

Tier One/Tier Two payroll.
Some SLGRP employers also pay different rates for General Service and Police and Fire.
OPSRP General Service payroll.
OPSRP Police and Fire payroll.

Employers who have the same rates

State agencies that do not have a side account, school districts that do not have a side account, and the State Judiciary each pay one rate.

Employer number	Employer type	Tier One/ Tier Two rate	OPSRP General Service rate	OPSRP Police and Fire rate
1000	State agencies	25.98%²	21.94%	27.21%
2099	State Judiciary	40.71%	n/a	n/a
3000	School districts	28.02%³	24.84%³	30.11%³

²Optional separate rates: General Service – 24.82%; Police and Fire – 31.81%.
³Reflects the 1.68% reduction to net contribution rates directed by SB 849 (2025).

Need help?

For an explanation of why your rates increased, read the article “New Rates and Valuations Available This Month,” section “Summary of 2023 Actuarial Valuation Results,” in the October 2024 Employer News.

If you have any questions about your statements, contact your ESC representative.

If you have questions about your contribution rates, email actuarial.services@pers.oregon.gov.

For all employers

Thank you for taking the employer survey

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give their feedback on the annual employer satisfaction survey.

Your feedback is vital to rating your satisfaction with the services and resources we provide so we can prioritize improvements.

We will now dive into analyzing the results, which staff will present to the PERS Board at its September 26, 2025, meeting.

For finance officers and agency heads

Employer Incentive Fund opens to all employers on July 1

The Employer Incentive Fund (EIF) application period will open to all employers on the morning of July 1.

The initial application period for employers with an unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) greater than 200% of valuation payroll, which began April 1, continues through June 30. Qualified employers who are interested in applying but have questions about the feasibility are encouraged to email Actuarial.Services@pers.oregon.gov.

About the EIF

The EIF program is an impactful way to reduce your PERS rates. Through the program, you make a qualifying deposit into a new or existing side account, and the EIF boosts your deposit by up to 25%. The funds in your account offset (i.e., reduce) your rates for the amortization period of your side account (i.e., the period your organization chose for your side account to last, up to 20 years).

Application process

On July 1 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, PERS will send a News Bite email with a link to the online EIF application. It is in a survey format.

Instructions
The application needs to be completed by the person responsible for making financial decisions for your organization. This is typically your chief financial officer or agency head. If they are not signed up to receive emails from PERS, send them to the Overview of PERS Benefits webpage “Stay Informed” section for instructions on signing up for PERS emails.

Resources

We recommend reading these resources before July 1. Remember that the actuarial team must allocate funds in the order that they receive complete and accurate applications.

For State and Local Government Rate Pool (SLGRP) members: transition liability

Members of the SLGRP who have a transition liability must pay off that liability before they can create a new side account. Transition liability payments are not eligible for EIF matches.

SLGRP members can find their transition liability balance in the Summary of Transition Liability (UAL) as of December 31, 2023, Actuarial Valuation report.

Questions
Email PERS Actuarial Activities Section at Actuarial.Services@pers.oregon.gov.

For human resources and benefits professionals

Did you know? PERS offers health insurance for retirees

As your employees near retirement, they may wonder how they will cover their healthcare expenses after they retire. One option they may not be aware of is the PERS Health Insurance Program (PHIP).

PHIP is available to PERS retirees plus their spouses and dependents who meet eligibility requirements. It offers Medicare, non-Medicare, and dental plans.

Benefits

PHIP provides extra benefits that are not available in other retiree plans.

PHIP’s Medicare plans include:

A choice of five medical plans.
A Part D prescription drug plan. (Part D prescription drug plan is included in all Medicare plans.)
Hearing benefit.
Vision benefit.
Free basic gym membership.

PHIP’s non-Medicare plans offer:

A choice of four medical plans.
Option to choose a high-deductible plan.
Alternative care (i.e., chiropractic and acupuncture).
One plan with vision benefits.
The option for a health savings account (HSA) that rolls over from one year to the next. (Retirees must be enrolled in a PHIP high-deductible health plan to have this option.)

PHIP also offers a choice of two dental plans.

PHIP premium subsidies

Oregon legislation established two separate trust funds that contribute a monthly premium subsidy toward the cost of PHIP-sponsored medical coverage only for eligible Tier One and Tier Two retirees: the Retiree Health Insurance Account (RHIA) and Retiree Health Insurance Premium Account (RHIPA) for non-Medicare plans.

RHIA subsidy: A premium subsidy for retirees enrolled in a PHIP Medicare plan.

RHIPA subsidy: For state retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare, a premium subsidy may be available based on state of Oregon qualifying service time. For longer-term employees, this RHIPA subsidy can be worth several hundred dollars a month.

Learn more

Call PERS Health at 800-768-7377 to request an in-person or virtual seminar. You can also request printed brochures to keep on hand.

For more information on eligibility, enrollment, premium subsidies, plan rates, and the 2025 benefits offered by PHIP, visit the PERS retirees PHIP webpage or go to pershealth.com.

For employer reporters

EDX tip: When someone stops working for you, take these four steps

STEP 1

Find out if your employee’s last year is qualifying or not based on partial-year rules.

Learn how in the newly updated Determining Qualification for a Partial Year quick-reference guide, section “Determining Qualification Status for Year of Separation.”

STEP 2

If your employee is a high earner, check their partial-year salary limit when posting final wages.

If their final wages put them over the partial-year salary limit, the amount of salary over the limit needs to be reported as non-subject salary in their final Detail 2 wage record. This can be tricky, so contact your ESC rep for assistance. (Find 2025 partial-year salary limits on the Salary Limits webpage under "Prorating Partial-Year Salary Limits by Month.")

STEP 3

Submit your employee’s final wages and hours before submitting their termination.

You must submit wages before submitting the termination record to avoid a suspended record.

STEP 4

Submit the termination record.

PERS cannot process a benefit or retirement until the recipient’s termination has posted. Make sure to complete this important step immediately after their final wages have posted.

TIPS:

Do not terminate a school employee who is going on summer break nor report them as on leave.
Have you forgotten to terminate employees in the past? Find out by running an Inactive Employment Report in EDX. Instructions are in guide 24, Running Reports.

For assistance

If you have questions or need help with either of these steps, contact your Employer Service Center representative.

For employer reporters and web administrators

Congratulations for 21 years of EDX excellence

ESC is proud to recognize the following web administrators and employer reporters for 21 years of top-notch PERS support. These folks were the first adopters of EDX when it launched in 2004.

Thank you all for 21 years and counting!

Need help?

Contact the Employer Service Center to ask questions and get one-on-one reporting help.

Contact ESC

Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please visit Help.

This service is provided to you by Oregon PERS.