IRPS committee approves line‑of‑duty death benefit, asks staff for pension and COLA fiscal impact analyses

The IRPS Committee recommended a line‑of‑duty death benefit via a home‑rule amendment with an estimated annual cost of about $64,000 and retroactive coverage to include two employees who died last year. The motion passed in committee by voice vote with one abstention.

Pension staff also presented two larger policy options for the board’s consideration: a proposed 2% retiree cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) with an estimated annual cost of approximately $2,000,009.93 affecting about 5,593 retirees, and a plan to move all Group 3 employees (hires after 2016; ~4,024 employees) into Group 2. Moving Group 3 into Group 2 was estimated to cost roughly $18,916,000 annually under current amortization assumptions; presenters described offset scenarios including eliminating the defined contribution plan for non-public-safety employees (saving about $8,000,000) or extending the amortization period from 18 to 20 years to reduce initial annual cost to about $4,000,004.16 in one scenario.

Commissioners asked for further fiscal-impact analysis, including phased and targeted options (public-safety only), effects on vesting periods and employee contributions, and whether the county could fund changes from reserves or by adjusting other budget items. COO Williams and budget staff said additional analysis would be provided and asked for approximately 30 days to prepare detailed numbers and comparisons for commissioners to evaluate during budget deliberations.

Next steps: staff will prepare comparative tables and a fiscal-impact rubric showing options (full move vs. partial, amortization changes, and DC adjustments) and present results to the committee before any final board action.