DeKalb committee defers pension home‑rule ordinance after questions on scope and retroactivity

The DeKalb County Employer Relations and Public Safety committee voted to defer consideration of a home‑rule ordinance that would amend the county pension code to add a death benefit for beneficiaries of plan participants who die in the line of duty.

A county presenter described the proposal and said cost estimates ($64,000) were calculated assuming the benefit would extend to all employees and departments, not only public safety. ‘‘When Mr. Wall asked me, ‘Would everyone be covered?’ … my response was an affirmative,’’ the presenter said, clarifying the scope the staff used for the actuarial estimate.

The pension board chair and the board attorney asked for two specific additions to the ordinance: (1) a provision addressing the scenario in which a person who dies in the line of duty had named no pension beneficiary and (2) clearer language that a retiree cannot change a joint annuitant after receiving the first pension payment. Staff said the proposed amendment would provide that, in the absence of a named beneficiary, the actuarial equivalent of a 10‑year benefit be paid to the estate as a lump sum when administratively practical.

Commissioners pressed staff on whether the proposed change would be retroactive to recently fallen officers; staff said it would apply only to deaths on or after the effective date (staff said the intended effective date is Oct. 1 if the board’s timeline is met). Commissioners also discussed past presentations that had focused on public safety and asked staff to send prior presentation materials to the full board.

The committee voted to defer the item to the board’s August 11 meeting for first reading so staff can incorporate the pension board attorney’s clarifying language and will return for final adoption on Aug. 25 if approved by the board. ‘‘We can defer until the August 11th meeting,’’ a commissioner moved; the motion carried.