The fully funded $20 billion Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association will allocate an estimated $718 million in excess pension investment earnings to the county, said Simon Russin, a trustee with LACERA. The allocation to the financially strapped county can be credited against county contributions to LAERA, which average $270 million a year.
``I think this is the largest amount of its kind ever allocated to a county,'' said Mr. Russin.
The remainder of the excess earnings for the year ended June 30, 1996 - $239 million - will go to cost-of-living adjustments.
The transfers are part of the Retirement System Funding Agreement, under which the county transferred nearly $2 billion in 1994 to LACERA to fully fund the retirement system. In exchange, LACERA agreed to apply 75% of excess earnings as an offset against future contributions owed by the county for five years.