I attended the PERA meeting on March 14, 2024. MNCORA's main concern today was the threat of adding dispatchers to our Correctional Plan. MNCORA submitted a letter opposing this.
The PERA Board voted to oppose adding them to our plan. It's interesting that this came up after this was recently proposed and shot down. There was the 911 Telecommunicator Pension Benefits Working Group that was put together by the Senate Legislative Pension Commission that did not support adding Dispatchers to the PERA Correctional Plan.
Yet one year later here we are. It's disturbing to see that Senators Seeberger and Pappas who are both on the Pension Commission have now AUTHORED SF4958 (companion to HF4796) to add dispatchers to our pension! Ignoring their own study.
Petitions are going out to County Jails and MNCORA encourages you to sign one. They will be sent to the Pension Commission to let them know our displeasure.
Adding them endangers our COLA, our Bill for a seat on the PERA Board and raising our high 5 multiplier from 1.9-2.2%.
MNCORA's position is spelled out clearly in our letter to PERA opposing this:
"The Minnesota Correctional Officer Retirement Association (MNCORA) opposes the addition of 911 Dispatchers to the PERA Correctional Plan.
This plan was established in 1999 for PERA Correctional Officers. Stated on PERA’s own website is the definition of who the plan is for:
The Correctional Plan was established in 1999 for correctional officers serving in county and regional adult and juvenile correctional facilities due to the physical nature of their jobs. The members of this plan are responsible for the security, custody and control of the facilities and their inmates. (PERA Correctional Plan Handbook)
911 Dispatchers are not responsible for “the security, custody and control of the facilities and their inmates.” There is no physical nature to their jobs. They are not assaulted, murdered or exposed to diseases from inmates on their jobs. As a matter of fact they have zero contact with inmates. They sit in an office setting.
The PERA Correctional Plan is for Corrections Officers. It is the best funded and run. Due to its financial strength PERA Correctional Officers COLA is 2.5% compared to just 1.5% of the Dispatchers current plan.
PERA Correctional Plan members should not be required to carry non-corrections members in their plan. Doing so jeopardizes its financial strength and endangers the 2.5% COLA.
Also of major importance is the fact that on January 1, 2025 the Federal Government will recognize and reclassify all State and Local Corrections Officers as Public Safety Officers. The same classification Police have. This will give additional disability and tax benefits to Corrections Officers, not dispatchers.
The PERA Correctional plan, if 911 Dispatchers are added, would have the burden of different disability payouts and taxation. Furthermore, most Correctional Officer disabilities are physical, most dispatch disabilities are stress and PTSD related. Once a Dispatcher, if allowed in the Correctional Plan, files for PTSD Disability that would immediately come out of the Correctional Plan, a plan they have not paid into rather than their current plan. This is a threat to the PERA Correctional Plans’ financial stability.
For these and numerous other reasons the Minnesota Correctional Officer Retirement Association opposes the addition of 911 Dispatchers to the PERA Correctional Plan.
Signed,
The MNCORA Executive Board"