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Sheriff asks council to add 10-year COLA for merit deputies to 2026 budget; fund currently ~97.5% healthy
Summary
Sheriff and the merit board presented a proposal to add a cost-of-living adjustment for merit deputies’ pensions; council asked staff to include the item in the 2026 budget process rather than appropriate funds immediately.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office and the county merit board presented a proposal to add a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for merit deputies’ pension benefits and asked the county council to budget for it in 2026.
Sheriff Smith and Alan Aldefer, a merit board member and local financial adviser, told the council the pension fund is about 97.5 percent funded and that the county has been diligent in funding contributions. Aldefer said the merit board’s current recommendation is a variable COLA up to 3 percent annually tied to inflation, with a 10‑year stream of COLA increases available to retirees who have at least 20 years of service and are at least age 55 when they begin drawing a pension.
Aldefer outlined two funding options presented by the merit board for the coming budget year: applying COLA only to future retirees would increase the 2025 funding request from the recommended baseline of $637,955 to about $851,006 (an additional ~$213,010); applying COLA to both current and future retirees would raise the ask to about $996,359 (an additional ~$358,404). Aldefer said the proposal is limited to the retiree — it would not extend to beneficiaries or spouses — and the merit board’s recommendation is to apply the COLA to current and future retirees.
Sheriff Smith noted recent departmental cost savings, including a reported projected reduction in the 2026 inmate-food budget of roughly $337,260 arising from a new food contract. Council members asked whether recent savings would be used toward the COLA; Sheriff Smith indicated those savings were part of 2026 planning and could contribute to funding but that the formal approach was to include COLA funding in the 2026 budget cycle.
Council members did not appropriate funds at the meeting. Instead, the council instructed staff and the sheriff’s office to include the COLA options in the 2026 budget process so the matter can be considered during upcoming hearings.
