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Needham Retirement Board adopts funding schedule to seek $20,000 COLA base effective July 2026; vote 3-2
Summary
The Needham Retirement Board voted 3-2 to adopt an actuarial funding schedule that assumes increasing the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) base to $20,000 effective July 1, 2026, and directed staff to present the valuation to town officials and PERAC. A separate formal vote to change the COLA base was deferred to the board's November meeting.
The Needham Retirement Board on Oct. 22 adopted a funding schedule that assumes a $20,000 COLA base starting July 1, 2026, and directed staff to complete an actuarial valuation for submission to the town and to the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC). The board approved the schedule in a 3-2 roll-call vote.
The action matters because the $20,000 base raises the town's near-term pension funding needs. Linda, a board staff member who presented the funding scenarios, said moving the COLA base from $18,000 to $20,000 effective July 1, 2026, would add about $2,400,000 to next year's cost. "That has a $2,400,000 price tag on it," Linda said, adding that the estimate includes future retirees and uses a 3% COLA assumption on the applicable base.
Board members and town officials had discussed multiple funding schedules that differ by timing and the pace of employer appropriations. The adopted…
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