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Board approves biennial disability verifications and halts two supplemental payments starting Aug. 2025
Summary
The board voted to send continuing-disability verification forms every two years and to stop supplemental payments to two retirees the board determined were erroneously paid; staff and counsel said the plan does not automatically convert disability benefits at normal retirement age and the board directed administrative changes to memorialize the policy in plan documents.
At its July 10 meeting the Board of Trustees voted to change administrative procedures for continuing-disability verification and to halt supplemental payments that staff identified as incorrect.
Scott, chair of the board, said staff discovered two retirees had received supplemental payments that, under the board’s interpretation of recent local ordinances and administrative practice, they were not entitled to receive. "I just wanted to bring it to the board and just have you guys authorize us to stop the supplemental payments starting 08/01," the staff speaker told trustees, describing the intent to cease supplemental payments beginning in August 2025 and to seek recovery options as permitted by law.
Board members debated options for recovering funds and noted the payments were an administrative oversight. Counsel and staff confirmed the plan framework: some plans convert disability to normal retirement at specified ages but this plan generally does not, so administrative verification remains necessary to confirm continued eligibility. The staff speaker said benefits under a line-of-duty disability have a different minimum benefit (42.5% of average compensation) than non–line-of-duty benefits, and that eligibility windows and vesting rules vary by type of disability.
On the frequency of ongoing verification, the board adopted a motion to issue continuing-disability verification forms every two years (biennial), rather than at a shorter interval. The board also approved a motion to stop sending verification letters after a member reaches normal retirement age, and asked staff to memorialize the new administrative language in the plan documents or SPD.
The consent agenda, initial disability-hearing minutes and quarterly meeting minutes were also approved earlier in the meeting.
The board set the next meeting for Oct. 9, 2025, and adjourned. Staff were tasked to update operating documents and to provide follow-up information about the two retirees and the administrative recovery options.
Because the transcript does not include a detailed roll-call of individual trustee votes for each motion, the article reports the board’s actions and records that motions carried in the meeting record.
