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Future of Retirement Study Commission report |
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NC Division and Chapter Leaders: Attached please find the final "Future of Retirement Study Commission report. This process last October when the Treasurer's office was soliciting folks to be on the commission. There was one slot that required you to be a local goverment retirement employee. After discussions with John Midgette, we both decided that this would be a commission that would be beneficial to the PBA and our members. Due to our relationship with Treasurer Secretary Cowell and our reputation and work in the General Assembly we were able to secure on of thirteen slots. We started in January of this year and met for three hours each month. We concluded our work last month. We covered a volume of information and I learned more about retirement systems I ever thought I would. The major pressure facing the commission was raising the retirement age for future hires coming in the system. Many retirement systems throughout the nation have already done this. The discussion started with raising the age to 60. The commission wasn't comfortable with that and agreed to raise the retirement age to 55 before being able to receive benefits. I waited until the opportunity presented itself and was able to carve out a friendly amendment that left everything the same for law enforcement. This motion passed by a 8-3 margin. This was a significant part of this report. For years, we have pursued 25 year retirement and have had support in the past. The bottom line moving forward...we will have to work diligently to preserve the benefits that we have. I was able to carve out the exemption for law enforcement because law enforcement officers already have a differential retirement. If you have any questions on this report please let me know. Please feel free to work this information into your monthly meetings. My best, Randy Byrd
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