Luzerne County’s five-member Retirement Board, which oversees the employee pension fund, met Wednesday in the county’s Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre. The board members, from left: Budget Finance Division Head Mary Roselle, county Manager Romilda Crocamo, County Council members John Lombardo (board chair) and Chris Belles (board vice chair), and county Chief Deputy Sheriff Eugene Gurnari, the employee/retiree representative.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County’s employee pension fund grew to nearly $350 million at the end of 2025 — a new record high, fund advisor Richard Hazzouri, of Morgan Stanley, said during Wednesday’s county Retirement Board meeting.
Growth is needed because pension-related payments out of the fund are also increasing, officials said.
Last year, the fund covered a total $30.38 million in pension-related payouts, according to county Pension Coordinator Richard Hummer.
Of that amount, most — $25.5 million — was for actual pensions. Another $1.5 million was for beneficiary payments upon the death of pension members. The remaining $3.4 million was money workers had contributed and wanted to cash out when they left employment, Hummer said.
In comparison, the three categories of payments totaled $14.1 million in 2011.
Approximately 3,900 current and past workers are either actively collecting pensions or vested to receive them in the future, Hummer said.
Last year’s investment returns yielded approximately $38 million and amounted to 12.2%, Hazzouri said.
Hazzouri told the board the challenge is prudently maximizing returns on money that can be invested while keeping sufficient cash on hand to cover ongoing pension obligations.
“We never want to be forced to sell at an inopportune time,” he said, in reference to liquidating investments.
A county subsidy and employee contributions helped offset the impact of the required $30.38 million in payments last year, but nearly $8 million still had to be paid from investment returns, Hazzouri said.
An annual county pension subsidy has been necessary for more than two decades to help close a gap that emerged years ago between fund assets and future pension payment obligations.
The gap started forming because money put into the fund from investments and employee contributions was not keeping pace with the growth of existing and eventual pension obligations. The problem was exacerbated when the fund’s market value dropped from $203.5 million in 2000 to $141 million in 2003 as county officials disagreed over the best way to manage the plan.
The county’s pension subsidy was $13.6 million in 2025 and is budgeted at $14 million this year, said county Budget Finance Division Head Mary Roselle, who serves on the Retirement Board.
Approximately 72% of the subsidy is paid through the general fund operating budget, with the rest coming from human service departments and other offices largely or entirely funded by the state and federal government or other outside sources, Roselle said.
According to the county’s outside auditor, the fund’s liability decreased from $106.1 million at the end of 2023 to $95.2 million at the close of 2024. The status at the end of 2025 will be reported in the next audit released later this year.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo, County Council members John Lombardo and Chris Belles, and County Chief Deputy Sheriff Eugene Gurnari also serve on the Retirement Board, with Gurnari filling a seat elected by employees and retirees as required by the county’s home rule charter.
Lombardo was named board chair on Wednesday, while Belles was selected as vice chair.
