Commissioners approve FPPA partial entry after deputies vote to switch retirement plan

The Clear Creek County Board of Commissioners voted to approve Resolution R26-40, authorizing the county to pursue partial entry into the Fire & Police Pension Association (FPPA) for new and existing peace officers. The vote follows an internal election in which a supermajority of the county's peace officers indicated they wished to transition from the Colorado Retirement Association (CRA) 401(a) plan to FPPA.

County staff described the procedural steps required by FPPA and CRA, including one-on-one FPPA counseling for affected employees and a disclosure period of up to 12 months for individuals deciding whether to transfer their account balances. Peter Lickman and staff told the board the internal vote was conducted with strict procedures and that most eligible peace officers participated.

Commissioners discussed the financial trade-offs. Commissioner Rebecca Lloyd said independent financial reviews showed FPPA faces long-term funding stress and may rely on higher contribution rates; she warned the plan could cost the county and employees more than CRA. But Lloyd and other commissioners accepted the sheriff's recruitment argument: Sheriff Harris and department leaders told the board that recruiting mid-career officers in the regional labor market requires offering FPPA benefits because many candidates are already vested in FPPA and would lose employer contributions if they moved to a CRA-only agency. "Sometimes you have to be on the team to recruit from the team," Commissioner Lloyd said in explaining her support.

The board approved the resolution to proceed with the partial-entry process; the county will next manage disclosures and coordinate individual elections and account transfers under FPPA rules. Individual employees who transfer their CRA balances into FPPA become subject to FPPA vesting rules and the plan's pension treatment of those funds.