CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A newly-composed Public Employees Insurance Agency finance board heard fairly positive news during its first meeting.
Year-end financial numbers look reasonably strong, based in part on solid investment performance.
Based on preliminary results for the past fiscal year that were presented Thursday: Investments outperformed projections by $59 million, and expenses finished lower than projections by $40 million,
This results in PEIA finishing better than its plan by $20 million and the Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund finishing better than plan by $60 million.
“We had a great year in the stock market so that always helps the plan,” PEIA director Ted Cheatham said after Thursday afternoon’s monthly meeting.
“The other thing is, operationally we performed better than planned, which is always a good thing.”
But the board may have difficult decisions just around the bend, as PEIA prepares for a series of public meetings focusing on insurance plans for the coming year.
Hearing about PEIA’s status for the first time Thursday was a newly-restructured board.
A new law reduced the board’s membership from 10 in the past to 8 now. The legislation passed this year eliminated the requirement that one member of the board represent organized labor. It also bars registered lobbyists from serving.
That meant Elaine Harris, who lobbies for the Communication Workers of America, and Josh Sword, president of the state AFL-CIO, lost their seats.
Another board member, Troy Giatras, had his term expire June 30. And there were two other prior vacancies.
So when the board gathered today, many members were getting an introduction. New appointments included:
Jared Robertson of Greenbrier County, representing education employees; Raymond Whiting of St. Albans, representing public employees; Jason Myers, city administrator for Parsons, representing political subdivisions; Geoff Christian of Charleston, an executive at Commercial Insurance, as an at-large member; Amanda Meadows of Scott Depot as an at-large member and Lee, Diznoff, a certified public accountant from Charleston.
Two board members had been reappointed: Bill Milam, executive director of the West Virginia Association of Retired School Employees, representing retired employees on the board, and Michael Smith of Milton, an at-large member.
With all the changes, PEIA had canceled its August board meeting and annual board retreat.
The retreat was happening throughout the day this Thursday in Charleston to help new board members get up to speed.
“They seemed all right but we are having a retreat today,” Cheatham said. “And so we are trying to get them up to speed on the financials. They’re not there yet.”
The board’s main responsibility is to approve PEIA health insurance benefits plans for public employees and retirees.
Up next for the board is to start a review of options for the coming year.
Cheatham announced tentative dates for public hearings: Nov. 6 in Morgantown, Nov. 14 in Beckley and Nov. 15 in Charleston. There will also be a couple of virtual meetings online where the public may stream information sessions.
“Public meetings in the month of November, and we’ll have a projected plan hopefully for the board at the next board meeting in October. That’s when we’ll present what we’ll take to public hearing,” Cheatham said.
The next finance board meeting is set for 1 p.m. Oct. 19.
Last year the board approved more than $50 million in plan benefit cuts. That followed the Legislature’s approval of a $43.5 million increase in employers’ PEIA premiums.