Commission approves shifting eligible San Juan EMS employees into Utah Retirement System firefighter tier

San Juan County commissioners voted to approve a resolution on Sept. 2 that will reclassify eligible emergency medical service (EMS) employees into the Utah Retirement System’s firefighter safety tier. Tranner, presenting for the EMS personnel, said state legislation authorized the change and county action is required to implement it.

Why it matters: moving EMS staff into the firefighter safety tier changes both employee and employer pension contribution amounts and is intended to improve recruitments and retirement fairness for frontline EMS workers.

Tranner told commissioners the state approved legislation will place EMS employees into the firefighter safety URS lane and that “the increase on the personnel will be a 6.34 percentage increase,” meaning employees will pay a larger share into URS and the county’s employer contribution will also rise. He said three EMS employees currently meet the eligibility requirements and that the county must submit the resolution and make administrative adjustments so payroll and benefits align with the URS change; staff set Oct. 1 as the effective date for payroll adjustments.

Commissioners posed routine questions about timing and budget effects; staff said they would modify benefits accounting for the October payroll and reported the change is intended to help with recruitment and retention in the EMS department. Commissioners moved and approved the resolution by voice vote.

The board’s approval directs staff to complete required URS filings and to adjust payroll and benefits accounts for the stated effective date; the meeting record did not detail the county’s total projected annual cost but staff said the per‑employee contribution difference would be an increase of roughly $16.62 per pay period for the example numbers discussed (translating contribution rate differences into a per‑pay‑period dollar estimate).