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Lansing Police & Fire Retirement System
The Lansing Police & Fire Retirement System operates as an independent municipal pension fund within Michigan's web of locally administered retirement plans,...
Lansing Police & Fire Retirement System
The Lansing Police & Fire Retirement System operates as an independent municipal pension fund within Michigan's web of locally administered retirement plans, serving the specific beneficiary pool of the city's police officers and firefighters. Governed by a board of trustees that includes departmental representatives, the mayor, and the city's CFO, the fund's governance blends operational proximity to the workforce with the City of Lansing's broader fiscal oversight. The system pays retirement, disability, and survivor benefits, and its financial health is reported annually in actuarial valuations filed with the State of Michigan. The fund's investment strategy is conservative by design, reflecting the liability stream it must service. Asset allocation typically spans domestic and international equities, core fixed income, and an allocation to real assets — real estate and infrastructure — that provides an inflation hedge and income component. While specific manager lineups and direct co-investments are not publicly detailed in a consolidated window, the system participates alongside other Michigan municipal plans in MAPERS (Michigan Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems), which facilitates manager education and potential economies of scale for smaller pools of capital. Its geographic exposure is centered in the United States, with global diversification achieved through commingled fund vehicles. Brad St. Aubin and Eric Wohlfert serve as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, each representing the departments whose members depend on the system's solvency. The board also includes Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and City CFO Crystal Thomas, embedding city-level financial oversight directly into the retirement system's governance. The fund participates in NCPERS (National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems), a national association that provides benchmarking, fiduciary training, and legislative advocacy for public plans. April 2024: The City of Lansing released its annual actuarial valuation, updating the funded ratio and employer contribution rates for the Police & Fire plan as part of the city's regular fiscal reporting cycle. The system's defining structural characteristic is its statutory isolation: as a closed plan for two specific uniformed departments, it operates with a narrower beneficiary base and a more predictable liability profile than a city-wide general employees' plan. This separation in Michigan's public retirement architecture means its discount rate, amortization policy, and benefit tiers are subject to distinct state legislative mandates — a governance constraint that external asset managers and co-investors should recognize as non-negotiable boundary conditions for the fund's investment policy.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Lansing
Corporate office
Lansing, MI, United States
Principals
Brad St. Aubin
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Eric Wohlfert
Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees
Andy Schor
Trustee, Mayor of Lansing
Crystal Thomas
Trustee, Chief Financial Officer of the City of Lansing
Karen E. Williams
Trustee, Retirement Analyst for the City of Lansing
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions for the Lansing Police & Fire Retirement System?
The Board of Trustees governs investment decisions. The board includes Chair Brad St. Aubin (police department representative), Vice-Chair Eric Wohlfert (fire department representative), Mayor Andy Schor, CFO Crystal Thomas, and Retirement Analyst Karen E. Williams. The board typically delegates day-to-day portfolio management to external investment consultants and third-party managers, a common practice for Michigan municipal plans of this size.
What is the funded status of the plan, and where is it publicly reported?
The plan's funded status is updated annually in an actuarial valuation filed with the City of Lansing and the State of Michigan's Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS) unit. The most recent public filing, released in April 2024, sets the employer contribution rate for the fiscal year. These documents are accessible through Lansing's city council meeting records and Michigan's public pension transparency databases.
Does the fund invest through direct commitments or primarily via fund-of-funds arrangements?
The system invests primarily through commingled institutional funds and separate accounts managed by third-party asset managers, consistent with its size and actuarial constraints. Membership in MAPERS and NCPERS gives its trustees access to pooled manager research, but the fund does not publicly disclose a dedicated direct co-investment program or private-credit direct-origination capability.
What is the real assets allocation, and what does it include?
The fund maintains a real assets portfolio that includes real estate and infrastructure exposures, according to public disclosures. This sleeve typically functions as both an inflation hedge and an income-producing component within the broader asset allocation. Specific underlying properties or infrastructure vehicles are not itemized in a single public-facing document but appear in the city's annual comprehensive financial report.
How does the plan's statutory framework constrain its investment policy?
Michigan's Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act (Act 314 of 1965) sets the fiduciary standard and the list of authorized investments. The fund cannot invest in vehicles that fall outside Michigan's statutory prudent-person boundaries, which limits allocations to certain alternative strategies. Any change to the plan's benefit tiers or amortization schedule requires coordination with state-level approval processes.
Is the fund open to new members, or is it a closed plan?
The Lansing Police & Fire Retirement System is a closed plan serving only current and former sworn police officers and firefighters of the City of Lansing. New hires in these departments may be enrolled in a separate tier or a different statewide plan, depending on the hire date and Michigan's public pension reform provisions that introduced optional defined-contribution components for new employees.
What role do MAPERS and NCPERS play for this specific fund?
MAPERS provides a forum for Michigan-specific regulatory updates, manager education, and peer networking among the state's municipal pension administrators. NCPERS offers a national-scale benchmarking and fiduciary training network. Both memberships give the Lansing board access to manager databases, due-diligence resources, and legislative advocacy without requiring a large internal investment staff.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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