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North Carolina Teachers' & State Employees' Retirement System Seeks COLA
When North Carolina is running an $8 billion budget surplus, the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System is seeking a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA) on pensions. However, the state system is not linked to the cost of living, and the legislature has not approved a significant boost in about 12 years.
North Carolina Teachers' & State Employees' Retirement System Seeks COLA
When North Carolina is running an $8 billion budget surplus, the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System is seeking a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA) on pensions. However, the state system is not linked to the cost of living, and the legislature has not approved a significant boost in about 12 years.
The budget proposal put forth by Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, proposed a 2% raise plus a 2% bonus. However, pending House budget legislation would provide only the 2% bonus over two years, and the Senate would provide no adjustment at all.
The state pension system serves 234,000 members with an average pension of around $21,000.
In an interview aired on WRAL-TV in Raleigh, House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, voiced support for some adjustment, though he stopped short of endorsing a COLA. “Whether it's a bonus or an increase, I think we ought to do something,” he said, acknowledging that inflation has reduced retirees' spending power.
While a bonus would be welcome, it wouldn't help maintain pension values long term, Richard Rogers, executive director of the North Carolina Retired Government Employees' Association, told WRAL. "Inflation is real," he said, adding that state retirees' pension checks have lost so much ground to inflation in recent years that they're getting only 84 cents to the dollar.
"They're living on fixed incomes, and the reality is they're trying to make decisions between health care, food, and living," Rogers said in the WRAL interview. He added that a bonus would be welcome, but it wouldn't help maintain pension values in the long run.
You might also like: Virginia Retirement System Trust Fund's Assets Rise; New Jersey Governor Calls For Pull Pension Payment In 2021.
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