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Brooksville council directs staff to draft ordinance to terminate firefighters’ retirement plan
Summary
After hearing actuarial analysis, 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 termination could require roughly $3.7 million in additional funding and the purchase of annuities would take several months to price.
The Brooksville City Council voted unanimously to have staff draft an ordinance to terminate the city’s firefighters’ retirement plan after receiving actuarial and legal guidance about the costs and timeline.
An actuary, Patrick Donlin, presented two impact scenarios: closing the plan (keeping it closed to new members) would have no immediate funding increase under the assumptions used; terminating the plan would likely require the pension board to buy annuities or pay lump sums to members. Donlin said the actuary’s illustrative estimate for purchasing annuities was “around $3,700,000.”
Attorney Thomas told the council the plan is already closed to new members and that the central question before the council is whether to terminate the plan or leave it closed going forward. City Manager (identified in the meeting record as the city manager) described possible sources to cover termination costs, saying the city could draw on reserves and portions of the fire budget and noted proceeds from asset sales could contribute. The city manager stated, “we would potentially take 2,700,000 out of our reserve as well as 1.1 and then we also have 1,200,000 in the fire budget,” language used in the meeting record.
Councilman Howell argued that continuing the closed plan could obligate future councils to rising costs over decades and moved to direct staff to draft the termination ordinance and coordinate the required steps with the pension board and the state. Howell said, “I think we need to terminate this…we find a way to come up with the money…” The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote, recorded as passing 5–0.
Donlin described the practical timing if the pension board chooses to buy annuities: the board would gather member data, request quotes from insurers and then have limited‑time quotes (for example, quoted prices good for roughly 60 days), so the city should expect the termination process to take several months from initiation to final pricing.
What happens next: the council directed staff to draft an ordinance to initiate the termination process. If the city moves forward, the ordinance will require two public hearings before final action, and the pension board will make trustee‑level decisions about payout structure (lump sums, annuities or substitute trusts). The actuary cautioned that annual funding needs would still fluctuate if the council elects to keep the plan closed instead of terminating.
Timeline and procedural next steps were set by staff and the attorneys; council did not set a date for introduction of the ordinance during the meeting.
This article is based on city council proceedings in which the actuary gave the $3.7 million estimate and council members debated and voted to direct staff to draft the termination ordinance.
