Attorney questions why 2024 retirees were excluded from 2025 COLA; board agrees to share actuary letter

An attorney representing a retiree asked the Lawrence County Retirement Board on June 3 why people who retired during calendar year 2024 were not included in the county's cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) that went into effect in January 2025.

The question came from attorney Michael Joanna, who said he could find no statutory or regulatory language that established a practice of excluding retirees who retired during the prior calendar year. "I could not find where there was language in the statutes or the regulations or the rules that said that only retirees from the prior year would be entitled to the COLA for the subsequent year," Joanna told the board.

Board members and staff said the county relied on guidance from its actuary. A board member identified in the transcript as Mr. Prestonpani told the meeting that the annual letter the actuary provides typically reports the cost to the county for granting a COLA and that the actuary’s practice is to include only retirees who were on the rolls through the calendar cutoff used in the actuarial calculation. "It only includes the retirees that retired, in this case, ... Dec. 31, 2023 and before," he said when the cutoff date was clarified during the meeting.

The board did not adopt any new policy at the meeting. Instead, board members agreed to provide a copy of the actuary's letter to Joanna and to let their solicitor consider whether it would be appropriate for the attorney to contact the actuary directly. "I'll send a formal written request to Jason and say this is what we're looking for, and then you can give me the response," a board member said.

Board members also noted the practical basis staff said the actuary used: the actuary calculates COLA cost using a 12‑month Consumer Price Index series that ends in August of the prior year, and the actuary's practice is to set the beneficiary cutoff so that the calculation reflects the population that experienced the CPI period used in the estimate. The attorney said he had been unable to find statutory language that mandated that cutoff.

Next steps recorded in the meeting: the board secretary will provide the attorney with the actuary letter after the meeting, and the solicitor will advise the board on whether the actuary may speak directly with outside counsel. No formal vote or change to COLA eligibility was made during the meeting.

Why it matters: COLA decisions affect monthly pension payments and county budget planning. The board's reliance on an actuary's interpretation — rather than a statute explicitly naming a cutoff — was the central point of the public question raised at the meeting.