The LAGERS Board of Trustees convened for their quarterly board meeting on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, at the LAGERS office in Jefferson City. Board Chair Joan Leary called the meeting to order, after which a motion to approve the consent agenda was unanimously approved. Of note, the following new employers have joined the system since the last board meeting:
- City of Hallsville
- Cedar County Ambulance District
- Warren County Emergency Services
- City of Byrnes Mill
Next, Chairperson Leary turned the meeting over to the LAGERS staff for their investment and management reports over to the LAGERS staff for their investment and management reports.
Investment Report
LAGERS’ Chief Investment Officer Scott Day presented the system’s quarterly market update, and LAGERS’ board investment consultant gave the investment performance report.
LAGERS’ investment performance as of 6/30/2025 is as follows:
- One-year: 6.4%
- Five-year: 8.6%
- Ten-year: 7.7%
Since inception: 8.4%
Actuary Report
LAGERS actuary Mita Drazilov of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company (GRS) presented the results of the 57th Annual Actuarial Valuation. Each year, LAGERS performs this valuation across all 861 LAGERS employers with over 1,339 departments to ensure appropriate contribution rates are set for each employer and to examine the financial strength of the system. In total, the following is expected for employers’ contribution rates in 2026:
- Unchanged: 89
- Decreases: 368
- Increases: 882
GRS noted that a primary driver of contribution rate increases continues to be higher than expected salary increases across all LAGERS employers. LAGERS reviews all assumptions at least once every five years through an experience study to ensure assumptions remain appropriate. LAGERS is currently conducting its regularly scheduled study and expects the preliminary results to be presented at the December board meeting.
Mita concluded, stating, “LAGERS has been a very successful public employer retirement system, and should be very proud of the continued strength of the system.” LAGERS’ funding remains strong at 92.3% prefunded.
For more information on annual valuations, click here.
Management Report
Finance Report:
Chief Financial Officer Melissa Rackers presented a final budget review for FY 2025, noting that the system’s total spending remained within the budget for FY 2025.
Proposed Administrative Rules
Next, Chief Counsel Andrew Sartorius reviewed two proposed administrative rule packages that were filed in August. LAGERS uses administrative rules to provide details on how our enabling statutes should be applied in practice. The board received no public comment for either rule. The board unanimously approved publishing a final order of rulemaking for the following rules:
Cadet Eligibility as a Police Officer in LAGERS: This proposal amends LAGERS’ administrative rule to clarify that a police cadet is eligible to be enrolled as a “police officer” in LAGERS prior to becoming POST certified. Currently, cadets must be enrolled as “general” employees. Changing this rule will enhance member benefits, simplify the enrollment process, and reduce reporting errors.
LAGERS Disability Process Enhancements: The LAGERS team recently completed a review of our disability process and identified several opportunities to streamline the process and eliminate bottlenecks. Changes include gathering more information up front to eliminate delays in the application review, a better process for keeping all parties informed of application status, and process improvements to expedite the decision-making process.
For more information on the rule-making process, click here.
Next, the board moved into closed session pursuant to § 610.021(1), (3), (5), (13), and/or (14) (2006).
