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City staff brief council on FOP retirement options; executive session planned before bargaining
Summary
Commerce City Human Resources briefed council on police-retirement options, including the current MissionSquare defined-contribution plan and a possible move to FPPA’s defined-benefit pension; HR said a council resolution would be required to offer FPPA and scheduled an April 7 executive session for detailed bargaining preparation.
Commerce City — Human Resources staff reviewed retirement-plan options for the city's police union (FOP), highlighting differences between the current defined-contribution program (MissionSquare/401(a)) and a potential defined-benefit pension through the Fire & Police Pension Association (FPPA). HR said the city and the union had jointly engaged HIAS Group (a Morgan Stanley subsidiary) to present factual comparisons and that MissionSquare and FPPA each made presentations for members.
Veil Levante, Director of Human Resources, summarized the comparison and told council that FOP membership had voted in favor of offering an FPPA option: "88% of FOP members did say they wanted to offer the plan," she said. Levante said HIAS Group was asked to provide factual information only and not to recommend a choice.
Key differences described by staff: - Current plan: a defined-contribution 401(a)/MissionSquare arrangement with a 10% employee contribution and a 10% employer contribution (figures were cited as the example for the current plan design). Employees direct investment choices within MissionSquare. - FPPA: a defined-benefit pension that would provide a lifetime benefit actuarially determined by service, salary and benefit choices; contributions and contribution splits are set by FPPA and can be higher than the current city contribution. FPPA requires a five-year vesting period to receive employer-contributed benefit credit.
Staff noted administration details and tradeoffs. For example, 29 FOP members currently have outstanding loans from the MissionSquare plan (average loan about $20,750); loans are not an FPPA feature, and members who moved to FPPA would generally have to repay outstanding MissionSquare loans within 90 days or trigger taxable events. HR said current employees could choose to remain in or move to FPPA if the city offers it, but new hires after a future implementation date would be required to join FPPA if the council adopts that option. Staff emphasized FPPA enrollment is effectively a one-way choice for the employer/agency: if the city and the union adopt FPPA, the agency remains under FPPA going forward.
Levante told council that more detailed financial and actuarial information would be presented in an executive session on April 7 so council could consider a negotiating stance before collective bargaining begins in May. She noted that if the council were to permit the city to offer FPPA, state statute requires council approval by ordinance/resolution as part of the process.
Councilmembers asked about recruiting impacts, the FPPA fund status, vesting rules and beneficiary choices; staff said they would provide additional actuarial and funded-status information at the April executive session. The item will be part of upcoming labor negotiations.
