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Georgia State Retirees urge larger COLAs, describe hardship from long funding gap
Summary
Representatives of the Georgia State Retirees Association told the committee that many long‑serving retirees face financial hardship because COLAs were reduced or absent for years; the group urged lawmakers to continue planned budget investments that would move systems toward an 80% funding milestone and restore meaningful COLAs.
Chuck Clay of the Georgia State Retirees Association (GSRA) urged the joint retirement committee to restore robust cost‑of‑living adjustments for state retirees, saying many pensioners face difficult tradeoffs between medicines, utilities and other necessities.
Clay said retirees have received only small adjustments in recent years and described long gaps since more meaningful COLAs were available. "For an individual who had a benefit of $30,000 in 2010 Over the 16 years since then, we've gotten adjustments of under $9,000 in the entire 16 years," Clay said, summarizing GSRA materials. He added that smaller recipients can face severe choices: "They're not worried about a vacation to Panama City folks. They're in dire needs and you all have helped."
GSRA representatives credited recent state contributions that began to restore purchasing power — including a prior $150 million tranche earlier and a $27 million supplemental payment described as a "13th check" style payment — but urged sustained annual investment. Clay and other GSRA speakers said the path to larger COLAs runs through improving funded ratios; they asked lawmakers to sustain contributions and complete planned budget tranches that GSRA says could place systems near the 80% threshold needed to expand COLAs.
The group also noted the historical decision during the recession to remove a portion of funding from the ADEC, which they said left retirees with years of small or no COLAs. GSRA asked lawmakers to consider the human impact when setting funding and budget priorities this session.
Committee members thanked GSRA leaders for their remarks; the presentation was an advocacy statement and no formal committee action followed during the meeting.
