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Council approves cost-of-living adjustment lookback for civilian municipal pension retirees
Summary
The council approved an ordinance to apply a COLA lookback to July 1, 2014, for civilian full-time municipal retirees; the city treasurer said the actuarial cost for the adjustment is about $209,000 and benefits would be calculated by month back to the lookback date.
The Edmond City Council on Aug. 26 approved an ordinance that sets a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) lookback to July 1, 2014, for civilian full-time employees in the city's municipal pension plan. The change covers civilian retirees only; police and fire plans are separate systems and are not included.
Ross Vanderham, city treasurer and a pension board member, said the city conducts an annual actuarial valuation to determine contributions and that an actuarial calculation indicates the one-time COLA lookback would cost about $209,000. Vanderham explained that retirees will receive an adjusted percentage tied to the number of years since retirement (for example, a retiree who retired five years ago would receive a 5% adjustment by the board's method; the ordinance calculates by month). Vanderham described the board discussion as robust and said the board recommendation was not unanimous.
Vanderham said payments would begin with the Oct. 1 payroll cycle. After discussion, the council moved and approved the ordinance; the clerk recorded five aye votes.
Why it matters
The adjustment restores purchasing power for municipal retirees dating back to 2014; staff said the change will modestly increase annual retiree benefit payouts but is funded from plan actuarial determinations and the city's existing funding structure.
What’s next
The pension-board and staff will implement actuarial adjustments and apply the COLA by month per retirees' individual retirement dates starting with the October payroll.
