- Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
- Area(s) of Law: Administrative Law
- Date Filed: 12-08-2022
- Case #: A170263
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Armstrong, J., DeVore, J., Presiding Judge, DeHoog, J., Mooney, J.
- Full Text Opinion
The Public Employees Retirement Board (Board) sets individual employer rates that incorporate outstanding liabilities to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) of The Job Council (TJC). The TJC was an intergovernmental entity established by Josephine and Jackson counties, Petitioners here, prior to 1993 and dissolved in 2015. Petitioners argued that the Board lacked statutory authority to collect TJC’s outstanding PERS liabilities. The trial court denied Petitioners’ challenge.
On appeal, Petitioners argued that the trial court erred when it determined that the Board, through its rate-setting power to increase the counties’ individual contribution rates, had statutory authority to collect TJC’s outstanding PERS liabilities.
ORS 190.080(3) fixed the liability of the counties for the intergovernmental entity they created and dissolved. ORS 238.225 grants the rate-setting authority of the board, allowing the board to determine county liabilities within 40 years.
The court held that TJC’s liabilities are the “liabilities of the counties by operation of ORS 190.080(3)” and that ORS 238.225 granted the board the authority to collect that liability through its “broad rate-setting authority."
Accordingly, the court held that the board did not err in determining that it could account for the counties’ liabilities and that the trial court did not err in reaching that same conclusion.
Affirmed.