In its first nine months of operation, 14 entities throughout Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts have joined the Plymouth County OPEB Trust (PCOT) to prefund their retiree healthcare benefits. The diverse membership includes towns, regional school districts and special districts and all are taking advantage of the flexible funding schedule, unparalleled administrative support and economies of scale of PCOT. PCOT is a distinctive multipler-employer trust for entities in Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol and Norfolk Counties that provides “turn-key,” full-service benefits that include trust administration, trustee and investment management services.

As Plymouth County Treasurer Tom O’Brien explains

“We developed PCOT in response to the challenge by the Plymouth County Commissioners and our local communities to find a solution for prefunding. We found that public entities are looking for a statutorily compliant OPEB prefunding solution with no minimum contributions and no mandated funding schedules. 

PCOT uniquely offers these features in its IRS-approved and legally vetted prefunding vehicle, and it is partnered with one of the largest OPEB trustees in the country, U.S. Bank, and a national leader in OPEB trust administration, Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS).”

Given the upcoming GASB 75 requirement of putting OPEB liabilities onto balance sheets by 2017, Treasurer O’Brien anticipates 50-75 more governmental units will join current PCOT members in the next 3-5 years to solve their OPEB prefunding challenges.

Tom O’Brien, Plymouth County Treasurer
(508) 830-9130
tobrien@plymouthcounty-ma.org

Kathryn Cannie, PARS
(617) 549-6555
kcannie@pars.org