Did the governor change the 4% cola on the old plan (MSEP)?No. The provisions in SB 62 have NO impact on members of MSEP or MSEP 2000. What you may be referring to is one of the “offsets” in SB 62 which contribute to making the MSEP 2011 vesting reduction (from 10 years to 5 years) cost neutral for the state. These offsets apply only to new terminated-vested members of MSEP 2011, effective January 1, 2018—one of these provisions is that the first cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for such members will be applied on the second anniversary of their retirement (rather than the first anniversary).
The offsets have no impact on current employees, retirees, or members of MSEP 2011 who retire directly from active state employment.
To review information about COLAs for other members, the COLA calculation depends on which plan you are in. If you retired under MSEP and were hired before August 28, 1997 and were vested in MSEP, you will receive a minimum 4% COLA until your accumulated COLAs are equal to 65% of your initial base benefit. This is called your COLA cap. Upon reaching the cap, your COLA will be calculated like other retirees and will range from 0% to 5% each year depending on the increase in the Consumer Price Index.
The 2017 COLA rate for MSEP retirees who have reached their COLA cap, MSEP members who were first hired on or after August 28th, 1997, and members retired under MSEP 2000 is 1.010%.
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