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Brooksville council directs staff to draft ordinance to terminate firefighters’ pension plan after actuary estimates $3.7M buyout
Summary
After hearing actuarial analysis and legal guidance, the Brooksville City Council voted 5–0 to direct staff to draft an ordinance to terminate the city’s closed firefighters’ retirement plan; the actuary estimated a termination cost of about $3.7 million and council discussed funding options including reserves and fire‑department budgeted funds.
Brooksville’s City Council voted unanimously to direct staff to draft an ordinance to terminate the city’s closed firefighters’ retirement plan after an outside actuary estimated the termination cost at roughly $3,700,000.
City Manager (speaker 3) opened the discussion and introduced outside experts. Actuary Patrick Donlin (speaker 6) presented two impact statements: closing the plan (no new members; future hires would enter the county’s FRS but existing members could stay) would have little immediate effect under the actuarial assumptions; terminating the plan would require the pension board to secure annuity quotes or pay lump sums and would require the city to make up any shortfall between plan assets and the insurer premium. Donlin said his termination estimate was about $3.7 million based on purchasing annuities for all members and noted an insurer’s quote would be valid for a limited window once provided.
Council members pressed for financial detail and timing. The city manager told council the city could identify roughly $2.7 million from reserves plus about $1.2 million currently budgeted in the fire department and flagged potential inflows from auctioning fire assets, but cautioned the fiscal year would be tight. Donlin said the pension board would administer the termination process, solicit insurance quotes and that the city would likely have several months from the board’s decision to assemble funds once a quote was issued.
Council member (speaker 5) argued terminating now would prevent long‑term escalating costs, noting the city paid about $258,000 to the plan this year and projecting that continuing payments over decades could cumulatively exceed $10 million. Attorney Thomas (speaker 8) and city attorney Becky Voss (speaker 12) advised council that while the plan is effectively closed to new participants, the formal choice before council was whether to terminate; either path requires ordinance amendments and follow‑up public hearings.
After discussion, a councilmember moved to direct staff to draft the ordinance to terminate the plan and implement required steps with the pension board and the state (mover: Council member — speaker 5; second: speaker 4). The motion passed 5–0.
What happens next: staff will draft the ordinance for required public hearings and the pension board will oversee termination mechanics (lump sums, annuities or a substitute trust). The actuary and attorneys will support the next steps and the council will consider the ordinance and associated fiscal impacts during future meetings.
