By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
With an audience full of Great Bend Police Department and Fire Department members, the Great Bend City Council received more information Monday about potentially moving the pension plan for first responders to the Kansas Police & Fire (KP&F) plan.
Great Bend knows they will beef up the current retirement plan for police and fire after a .20% sales tax increase was approved in the Nov. 2 General Election to improve the pension package.
The majority of the state uses KP&F for their first responders which provides bolstered death, disability and retirement benefits.
Educational
Representative at Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) Paige
Ashley said the early retirement option through KP&F is key for an
occupation that is physically demanding.
"They can retire at young age because I don't know how many 65-year-old police officers I want chasing the bad guys," said Ashley. "They can collect their benefit, go back to work somewhere else, and it does not disturb their pension at all."
KP&F members become retirement eligible at the age of 50 with 25 years of service,
age 55 with 20 years of work or 65 years old with 15 years of employment. Upon
retirement, the worker is paid monthly for his or her entire life based on
KP&F’s formula. The retirement benefit calculation is...
Years of Service X 2.15% X Final Average Salary
What allows KP&F to be such a great policy for employees is the employer contribution. Rates for 2023 would require the city to contribute 22.86% of the member’s gross wages while the employee is required to add 7.15% of their wages.
If an employee
decides to leave prior to becoming invested, the city’s contributions to the
individual’s plan remain in the KPERS trust fund while the employee can pull
out what they personally have contributed.
Once enrolled in the KP&F plan, there is no option to withdraw. The concern of switching to the KP&F plan is funding the plan in the future if the sales tax revenue does not cover the expense of rising city contributions.
The city council heard several endorsements from fire and police employees to invest into the KP&F plan.
A decision for the KP&F plan does not need to be made until Jan. 1, 2023. The city will hear from ICMA, Great Bend’s current pension plan provider, at the Dec. 20 meeting.