Under the County Pension Law, County Retirement Boards are required to review the supplemental benefits provided to county annuitants at least once every three years. They, however, have no ability to limit the amount of any increase in supplemental benefits provided to annuitants because any such increase must be equal to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area for the 12-month period ending August 31 for the year in which the adjustment is reviewed. While admirably intended to provide our county retirees with benefit increases that keep up with inflation over time, it, unfortunately, means that any increase in supplemental benefits for county annuitants comes with a very high cost to the respective county and, ultimately, the taxpayers of that county.
 
That is why we are introducing legislation that would amend the County Pension Law to permit pension boards to grant smaller increases in supplemental benefits rather than mandating that any increase be equal the applicable CPI-U. This proposal is aimed at saving our counties and their taxpayers money while also continuing to support our county retirees with supplemental benefits. 
 
Please join us in supporting this commonsense legislation. 
 

Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 0778: P.L.398, No.96