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Supervisors direct staff to add VRS hazardous‑duty retirement numbers for EMS recruitment; cost would be significant
Summary
County staff discussed adding EMS and fire employees to the VRS hazardous‑duty retirement supplement, explaining 1.7 and 1.85 multiplier options would cost roughly $232,000 or $330,000 annually respectively; the board asked staff to show the 1.7 cost in the draft budget for review.
Lancaster County administrators discussed expanding the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) hazardous‑duty retirement supplement to cover emergency medical services and fire personnel as a recruitment and retention tool.
Don explained two multiplier options that would increase the county’s VRS contribution rate. "If we chose to adopt the 1.7 multiplier and add EMS to that, our percentage would jump to 15.94%," Don said, adding that the change would increase county costs by about $232,000 annually to cover 15 EMS positions. He said an enhanced 1.85 multiplier would increase the county’s contribution further and cost roughly $330,000 per year; neither amount is included in the presented FY27 draft budget.
Board members discussed tradeoffs. Supporters said hazardous‑duty coverage is a key hiring tool in jurisdictions that already offer it; others noted it would increase recurring employer costs that must be funded from the county’s operating budget. Don said the actuarial study required to cost a change already had been completed and that the county could first adopt 1.7 and later consider moving to 1.85 without repeating the full actuarial process.
The board asked staff to insert the 1.7 multiplier numbers into the draft budget for review at the next work session; no formal budget change or vote occurred at the March 12 meeting.
