City of Jacksonville Retirement System

Brennan Merrell serves as Chief Investment Officer, reporting to a board of trustees and subject to City Council oversight. The board sets investment policy and approves allocation ranges; Merrell and his staff execute manager selection, rebalancing, and performance monitoring. Marcia Saulo, the City Comptroller, provides an additional administrative check on cash management and reporting.

A 2015 Florida Supreme Court ruling in Williams v. City of Jacksonville struck down a city ordinance that had forced police and fire employees into a 30-year agreement reducing benefits. Following that decision, the Police & Fire Pension Fund moved to an independent board of trustees. The general employees and corrections officers remain under the City of Jacksonville Retirement System, which the City Council oversees directly.

The Corrections Officers Pension Plan has been a persistent funding concern. A November 2023 actuarial review prompted a $132 million supplemental city contribution split between the general and corrections plans, with the corrections plan's unfunded liability cited as a primary driver. The corrections plan covers detention officers and sergeants at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, a population whose benefit formulas are less generous than police and fire but whose actuarial costs have risen alongside detention staffing.

Real estate commitments include Harrison Street Core Property LP, PGIM Real Estate PRISA II LP, the UBS Trumbull Property Fund, and Abacus Multi-Family Partners Fund VI LP. The system also holds Bell Value-Add VII LP for residential exposure. The sleeve is tilted toward core and core-plus commercial real estate, with a smaller allocation to value-add multifamily apartments.

No. The General Employees Pension Plan closed to new hires in 2017. New city employees enter a defined-contribution plan administered by the same retirement system, which also manages disability and survivorship benefits for those participants. The Corrections Officers Pension Plan remains open to new corrections hires entering eligible job classifications.

The system invests almost exclusively through commingled institutional funds and pooled real estate vehicles. There is no public record of direct co-investments, separate accounts, or club deals. Cash management operates through Dreyfus Government Cash Management (DGCXX) rather than separately managed short-duration accounts.

Ashantae Green serves as Sustainability Manager, a title unusual among US municipal pension funds. The role appears to sit within the city's broader finance department rather than the retirement system exclusively, and likely bridges ESG reporting requirements, city-level sustainability targets, and pension-trustee considerations. The specific mandate has not been detailed in board meeting minutes or public investment policy statements.