Police pension board votes to explore consolidation with LOPFI, authorizes actuarial fee

The Fayetteville City Policeman Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees voted on April 17 to authorize the mayor and the city clerk to begin exploring consolidation of the city’s old police retirement plan with the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System (LOPFI) and separately approved using plan assets to pay the special actuarial valuation fee required by LOPFI.

Those votes are significant because consolidation with LOPFI would shift plan administration and investment management to the larger state system; trustees discussed potential benefits including higher expected investment returns, lower administrative costs and the possibility of a compounded 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) for participants if actuarial requirements are met.

Trustee Eldon Roberts introduced the motion to “start exploring the possibility of consolidating [the] old federal police retirement plan with the Arkansas State Police Fire Retirement System known as LOPFI with a 3% compounded cost of living adjustment annually for all participants.” Roberts told the board he had researched the issue, spoken with LOPFI staff and reviewed a LOPFI letter that, he said, framed fiduciary responsibility as “achieving improved…