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Commissioners debate retirement COLA, stipend and employer contribution amid FY2026 budget work
Summary
County HR and the benefits committee recommended maintaining a 10% employer contribution to TCDRS and proposed a 3% flat cost-of-living adjustment for retirees; commissioners debated that proposal and a long-running monthly stipend paid to a subset of retirees and requested more historical and actuarial information before final action.
Rockwall County commissioners and HR staff debated proposed changes to the county’s Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) parameters and a related retiree stipend during the Aug. 26 Commissioners Court meeting.
Cammie Webb, the county human-resources director, reviewed recommendations from the benefits committee (commissioners Lauren Lichty, John Stacy and Treasurer David Peake). The committee recommends keeping the county’s employer contribution at 10% of salary (above the TCDRS required rate of 9.25%) and offering a TCDRS cost-of-living adjustment. Webb said the TCDRS board allows counties to grant either a 1%, 2% or 3% flat COLA or a CPI-based COLA; the benefits committee proposed a 3% flat COLA for 2026.
The court also discussed a county-funded monthly stipend paid to a subset of retirees (94 recipients were identified during the meeting). Commissioners reviewed last year’s change, when the stipend was reduced, and the interplay between stipend decisions and a TCDRS COLA. Several commissioners criticized the 2024 reduction of the monthly stipend, argued the stipend helps retirees on fixed incomes and asked for a fuller historical explanation of why the stipend was originally enacted. Commissioners also discussed whether the stipend should be paid outside TCDRS or replaced/offset by a COLA applied across all plan participants.
Webb explained the stipend predates current plan arrangements. She said the county currently has 192 persons receiving TCDRS benefits (a group that includes retirees and some beneficiaries) and 94 retirees receiving the county stipend; noting the stipend had been previously “grandfathered,” Webb and others said it would be administratively difficult to continue the stipend for a growing number of retirees without large budget impacts. Court members also discussed past and recent COLAs, employer contribution impacts on actuarial funded ratios, and the fiscal tradeoffs for FY2026.
No final vote was taken on a retirement COLA or stipend change at the Aug. 26 meeting; commissioners requested follow-up work, including historical documentation on why the stipend was created and additional estimates of legal and actuarial costs for the coming fiscal year. Commissioners discussed the option to keep the employer contribution at 10% rather than move to the required 9.25% and expressed near-term agreement with strengthening the plan, but some members sought more information before finalizing a COLA and stipend decision as part of the budget process.
