Pasadena Fire Fighters' Association Benefit Trust

“The organization's management duties, including accounting functions and payments of benefits to its members, are provided by a third party administrator.”

“There are five trustees, three of whom are elected by the association, one who is appointed by the board of directors of the association, and one who is a retiree participating in the benefit plan under the trust and is selected by the board of trustees. In the event of early termination of appointment, resignation, or death of a trustee, a successor shall be appointed by the association board of directors to fill the remaining term. The appointment of a trustee may be terminated, at any time, by the entity which originally made the appointment, according to such entity's internal rules, procedures, or practices.”

“The form 990 is provided to the board of trustees, attorney and administrator for review prior to filing, with guidance from the auditor.”

“The organization and the board of trustees monitors and enforces compliance with the conflict of interest policy by having each trustee complete and sign a disclosure and confidentiality form on an annual basis.”

“The organization, which is an erisa employee benefit fund, is governed by an uncompensated board of trustees and has no officers or employees. The day to day management, administration and operation of this fund is provided by a third party administrator.”

“The organization intends to comply with all requirements under federal law, including the tax code and the employee retirement income security act. It makes its governing documents, policies, and financial statements available to all participants in its benefit plan upon request. The general public has access to many of these documents through annual government filings made by the organization.”

“The trust does not regularly receive information regarding the compensation received by the trustees from the city of pasadena. The trustees are employed by the city of pasadena and receive all their compensation solely connected to their duties as firefighters. The trust has requested this information but has been unable to obtain it for a timely form 990 filing. In their role as trustees, they are fiduciaries and subject to legal prohibitions against self-dealing. They serve on a volunteer basis as trust fiduciaries; they do not receive any additional compensation from their employer, a sponsoring organization, or any other party for their services on the board of trustees. Further, the trust has a conflict of interest policy, which requires trustees to disclose any financial arrangements that would create a conflict of interest. Note also that the disclosure of compensation requested on the form 990 would cause additional administrative burden by requiring the trust to collect this information annually, since the trustees' compensation as employees varies from year to year, and from trustee to trustee. Finally, and very importantly, the form 990 is public information. It is likely that requiring the disclosure of compensation will dissuade firefighters from volunteering to serve on the board. The trust would then have to spend trust assets to hire a professional trustee. Please contact the trust office if you would like further information, and/or would like to discuss this further. The trustees want to be cooperative with the irs, but requesting this compensation information is problematic for the reasons stated above.”

“The trust does not have a separate audit committee. However, the board of trustees has responsibility for oversight of the audit and the selection of independent accountants.”