Oldsmar firefighters' pension board accepts actuarial valuation; estimates roughly $662,000 contribution

Trustees for the Oldsmar Firefighters' Pension Board voted to accept the board's actuarial valuation dated Oct. 1, 2025, and separately approved a 6.75% assumed long-term rate of return.

The board's consulting actuary, identified in the meeting as Chuck, told trustees the valuation is a recommendation and not final until the board approves it. He described several actuarial assumption choices and said the report uses the Florida Retirement System (FRS) mortality table as required, and that he has mirrored several additional FRS assumptions where appropriate. "It's a recommendation. It's not official until the pension board officially takes action to approve the report," Chuck said during his presentation.

Chuck directed trustees to the valuation's Table 1a and emphasized that the percentage-of-pay figure can be misleading for a frozen plan with a shrinking active payroll. He reported the estimated minimum required dollar contribution for the plan (city contributions plus chapter distributions) at approximately $662,003. He cautioned that the figure is an estimate tied to projected payroll and to the amount of CHAP (chapter) money that arrives. "If that money comes in at the same rate this year as last year, we're looking at a city contribution of just shy of $500,000," he said.

The actuary also explained that recent updates to mortality assumptions are increasing liabilities: "The mortality update for public safety seems to be increasing our liabilities by about 4 to 5 percent," he said, noting that longer expected lifespans raise the plan's projected benefit payments.

Board staff (Jeremy) clarified the CHAP distribution history: the actuary identified roughly $173,000 in chapter money for the prior year; staff said the current-year total, including a supplemental payment, is nearer $178,000'$179,000, and that a supplemental check of about $59,368.49 arrived this cycle.

Chuck told trustees the plan's funded percentage is approximately 105% as of Oct. 1, 2025, after the mortality update, but warned that funded percentage measures accrued benefits and does not capture projected future benefit accruals for the remaining active members. He emphasized that a frozen plan with only a small number of active participants (the valuation shows the active count dropping from nine to eight) will typically show higher contribution-dollar requirements today because the time horizon for funding projected benefits is shorter.

After discussion, the chair called for a motion to accept the 09/30/2025 actuarial evaluation. The motion was moved and seconded and carried by voice vote.

The board also separately moved, seconded and approved the required formal acknowledgement of the plan's assumed investment return at 6.75% ("six and three quarter percent"). Jeremy read the proposed motion to set the expected rate of return at 6.75% for the period covered by the valuation.

Next steps: the actuary will file the approved valuation with the state within the statutorily required filing period (the actuary noted the office has 60 days after board approval to file). Trustees were told they may unapprove and request revisions in a subsequent meeting if necessary.

Data and clarifications: the $662,003 figure is an estimated minimum required contribution for fiscal year 2026 and depends on final payroll and CHAP distributions; the CHAP supplemental and exact payroll allocations were described as not final and subject to later confirmation at year-end.