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PERA Correctional Plan threat code red!

 MNCORA has been monitoring the 911 Telecommunicators Pension Benefits Working Group established by the Minnesota State Senate.

Among considerations is adding 911 Dispatchers to the PERA Correctional Retirement Plan. They seem to be leaning very heavily towards this.

Talk at the last meeting has working group members comparing the stress of 911 dispatching to the very real physical dangers Correctional Officers face on the job!

Sources tell us at the last meeting PERA Executive Director Doug Anderson said it could cost as much as $79 million to add dispatchers to the Correctional Plan! This was only a ballpark because NO ACTUARIAL STUDY has been done or even approved by the legislature!

If dispatchers are added the up to 2.5% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) would probably end. With the current high inflation even the 2.5% COLA is a shrinking benefit!

It's quite possible this work group could recommend adding people to a high risk plan, that don't meet the criteria, destroying the healthy COLA without even knowing the full price tag. Oh, and the $79,000,000 ballpark estimate doesn't even include disability!

MNCORA plans to be heard.

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