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The Numbers

The Star Tribune ran an article written by reporter Randy Furst who attended the March 20th LCPR meeting at the Minnesota State Capitol.

The article outlines extremely well the costs of Police PTSD on the PERA Police and Fire  retirement fund. The article quotes PERA Executive Director Doug Anderson, 

"We are estimating that the police and fire pension plan is costing $40 million more per year than we previously expected," .... "If there is no change in that trend, it accelerates the decline in the funding status."

Unless disability pension applications by law enforcement officers and firefighters drop dramatically, cities and counties — as well as current public safety workers — will need to ratchet up their pension contributions, Anderson said."

MNCORA recognizes the Police and Fire fund is in trouble. However the PERA Correctional Plan IS NOT!

Here's the numbers from the LCPR (MN Public Pension Plan Statistics as of 6-30-2021.docx).


Police and Fire has 1,684 officers out on disability alone (the majority being PTSD). 

The PERA Correctional Plan has 1,277 on regular retirement and only 216 on disability. It should be noted Correctional disability is largely on duty physical injuries not PTSD.

The numbers show Police and Fire have more officers out on disability than the PERA Correctional Plan has on total retirement!

So again MNCORA poses the question, "Why is the PERA Correctional Plan disability process being lumped in with Police and Fire?" They are two separate plans! The Correctional Plan is not costing $40 million more per year than expected. 



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