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City of Fort Lauderdale

Police and Firefighters’


Retirement System
Public Safety Pensions

Fort Lauderdale
Police and Firefighters’
Pension Plan

(1)
Key Elements
 Established by City in 1973
 Covers 491 sworn police officers and
382 sworn firefighters
 Provides benefits to 944 retirees and
beneficiaries
 Assets of $394.4 million (market
value on 9-30-09)
(2)
Administering the Plan
Administered by 7-member board of
trustees:
 2 elected by police officers
 2 elected by firefighters
 2 appointed by mayor
 1 consensus trustee approved by City
Commission
(3)
Current Trustees
1. Lieutenant Michael Dew (police), Chairman
2. Officer Richard Fortunato (police), Secretary
3. Firefighter J. Scott Bayne (fire)
4. Battalion Chief Ken Rudominer (fire), Vice
Chairman
5. Mark Burnam (appointed by Mayor)
6. Jim Naugle (appointed by Mayor)
7. Dennis Hole (consensus trustee approved by
City Commission)
Finance Director (city) ex-officio member
(4)
Funding the Plan
Funding comes from 4 sources
 Employee Contribution: 7% of pay
 State Contribution: tax on casualty
and property insurance premiums
 City Contribution: determined by
plan actuary to maintain benefits
 Investment Income: return on assets
invested in securities
(5)
City’s Contribution 2008
 36.3% of $52.8 million payroll*
 Pension contribution of $18.6 million
 Employee Contribution $4 million
 Investment Income $9.2 million
 Fund Value Declined 22.1%**
 Plan is pre-funded for 78% of benefits
*City saved $2 million by not having to pay pension contributions on 69 officers
participating in the DROP program

**Fund value declined only four times in past 18 years due to market downturn
(6)
Retirement Formula

 YEARS:
20 years service or 10 years and age 55
 BENEFIT ACCRUAL:
3.38% credited toward each year of work
 FINAL SALARY:
average of 2 highest years
(7)
Sample Retirement

 20 years of service
 Benefit Accrual 3.38%
 Final 2 years salary average $70,000

20 X .0338 X $70,000 = $47,320 per


year or $3,943 per month

(8)
Benefit Options

Retirees can select a reduced monthly


retirement payment in order to
provide additional benefits to their
spouses, children or designated
beneficiaries upon the death of the
retired officer

(9)
Death of an Active Officer

 Beneficiary is entitled to receive


survivorship benefits whether
the officer’s death is duty-
related or non-duty related.

(10)
Deferred Retirement Option
Plan (DROP)
 After 20 years of service
 Retire and monthly benefit is frozen
 Work at regular salary for up to 5 years
 Maximum combined service is 27 years
 City does not make pension contribution
during DROP period
 Monthly pension benefit placed in tax-
deferred account
(11)
DROP
 If disabled, cannot get disability pension
 At end of DROP – terminate employment and
receive amount in DROP account
 DROP account receives interest based on plan’s
actuarial return (7.75%)*
 Interest on DROP account stops when officer
terminates employment
 Retirees receive no COLA
*If investment return is greater than 7.75%, the city’s plan earns an additional amount
(12)
City Benefits from DROP
 City saves pension contributions on
officers while in DROP program
 City saves money on pensions as the
benefits are frozen at time of DROP
 City saves money on recruitment and
training of new employees
 City saves money by keeping
experienced employees
(13)
Disability Pension Benefit
Service-Related Disability Pension:
disability on the job or related to job duties
– 65% of current salary (reduced by
workers’ comp)
Non-Service Related Disability Pension:
disability is not job related – 50% of
current salary (reduced by workers’ comp,
Social Security disability or other earned
income) (14)
Overtime

Police – 40 hours of overtime per year


count toward retirement (funded by
the casualty insurance premium tax,
which is not a cost to the city)

Firefighters – overtime does not count


toward retirement
(15)
Unused Leave

Unused sick and annual leave do not


count toward retirement benefits –
cannot increase monthly pension
benefit

(16)
Firefighters Supplemental
Share Plan
 Established by the City in 2005
 Paid by property insurance premium tax
 Extra premium tax revenue each year is
allocated into individual accounts
 After 10 years service, firefighters
receive a lump sum payable upon
termination, retirement, death or
disability*
* If officer suffers service-related death or disability with less than 10 years service,
the account balance is paid.
(17)
Pension Plan Statistics

 Average Police Pension $3,438 per month


 Average Firefighter Pension $3,513 per month
 Plan had positive investment returns 14 of past
18 years
 78% of retirees live in Florida
 Each dollar of pension benefits paid creates
$1.41 in local economic activity*

*National Institute on Retirement Security, Study of Florida pension benefits

(18)
Police and Firefighters’
Pension Plan
Defined benefit pension providing a
lifetime, guaranteed benefit and
financial security and dignity to all
retirees who served the City of Fort
Lauderdale each day as police officers
and firefighters, sometimes giving
their lives to protect our citizens.
(19)
Police and Firefighters’
Pension Plan

 Providing employees with adequate


retirement, death, disability, and
survivor pension benefits is an
invaluable way to reward the
contributions of hard working and
dedicated public safety officers.
 It is simply good economic, public
policy. (20)

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