Elrich is Fighting the Wrong Battle on Pensions

Montgomery County is in a quiet but important fight over who controls billions in pension assets and the math behind them. The question is not abstract: should long‑term pension risk be managed by independent fiduciaries and actuaries, or by the County Executive’s political budget office?[1] [2] [3]

Bill 28‑24 before the County Council would move responsibility for choosing the pension actuary and setting most actuarial assumptions from the Chief Administrative Officer to the Board of Investment Trustees, the body that already has fiduciary responsibility for the retirement plans. County Executive Marc Elrich opposes this shift, and his administration argues that maintaining “shared control” is vital to good governance. That sounds reasonable until you look at how AAA‑rated governments actually run their pension systems.[4] [5] [6] [2] [1]

National best‑practice guidance from NCPERS is explicit: the retirement board should set strategy, oversee risk, and rely on independent actuaries and investment professionals for the technical work. Actuarial assumptions—especially the investment return assumption—are core risk‑management decisions, not knobs to be turned for short‑term budget relief. Good governance means those levers sit with a fiduciary board, at arm’s length from day‑to‑day politics.[7] [8] [9]

That is exactly what our AAA neighbors do. Howard County, Fairfax County, Arlington, and Loudoun all pair strong financial policies with board‑centered pension governance. Independent boards and actuaries control assumptions and funding requirements; elected officials’ job is to fund those requirements and maintain sound overall fiscal policy, not to massage the pension math.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Montgomery’s own Office of Legislative Oversight has already warned that the current CAO‑centric structure is out of step with best practices and that investment‑related assumptions should be assigned to the Board of Investment Trustees. Bill 28‑24 follows that recommendation. Elrich is not defending some gold‑standard

model; he is defending a structure that concentrates too much actuarial power inside the political chain of command.[3]

If Montgomery County wants to act like a serious, AAA‑caliber government, it should do what other AAA

jurisdictions do: let independent boards and actuaries run the pension system, and keep politicians away from the pension calculator. Bill 28‑24 moves us in that direction. Elrich’s opposition moves us the other way.

References

. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1434642483646721/posts/2374613006316326/

. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MDMONTGOMERY/bulletins/404634d

. https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/2025_reports/OLOReport2025-14.pdf

. https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/Resources/Files/agenda/col/2026/20260127/testimony/item1_-MichaelCoveyou.pdf

. https://mocoshow.com/2026/03/16/montgomery-county-council-to-review-capital-budget-tuesday/

. https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=48209

. https://www.ncpers.org/file/secure/ncpersbest-governance-practicesfinal2024.pdf

. https://www.nhrs.org/docs/default-source/now-you-know/now_you_know_governance.pdf?sfvrsn=c76701b4_5

. https://www.ncpers.org/blog/online--guide-to-pension-governance-and-oversight-best-practices

. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/retirement/financial-and-governance-reports

. https://www.howardcountymd.gov/News021026