Category: All

In the last post, we settled on 4.5% as an assumed rate of return when projecting the DC account balances. However I decided it was just as easy to perform the calculations at 4.00%, 4.50% and 5.00%, therefore giving some more options. Below you will see two charts. The first chart assumes and Entitlement Age…

Read More

In our last post we decided that we would compare the DB and DC plans at entitlement age. In order to make that comparison, we’ll need to make some assumptions about the rate of return on the program investments and how long someone will generally live to collect monthly benefits. First we’ll look at the…

Read More

Trying to compare the DB and DC plans is exactly like the old saying of trying to compare apples to oranges. Just like fruit, part of the decision making process in selecting which type of plan is better comes down to preference and taste – not something that can be analyzed. But, the analysis is…

Read More

We fully expect the Governor to sign the bill to increase the defined contribution (DC) amount from $700 to $1,200 into law at some point before the end of the year. For the sake of many fire districts that would like to amend the program at the upcoming commissioner election in December, we hope it…

Read More

Bill A 7552 / S 4207-A has passed the Assembly and Senate. This bill increases the Defined Contribution service award from $700 to $1,200. Now, we wait for the Governor to sign it into law.   When the law was amended to increase the contribution from $480 to $700, the Governor had not signed the bill into…

Read More

We are tracking two bills that are being considered during the final days of the legislative session. The session was scheduled to end today (Wednesday 6/19) but there are indications that it may be extended to the end of the week. The first bill is A 7276 / S 5895, which would increase the maximum…

Read More

I’m purposefully skipping to the end – to the last point system category. We’ll circle back to the other three, leaving Miscellaneous to the end since it is sort of a “catch all” category. (ix)Teaching fire prevention classes—five points maximum. An active volunteer firefighter who at the direction of his company, district or department, and…

Read More

The next point system category is meetings: ​(v)Attendance at meetings—twenty points maximum.Attendance at any official meetings of the volunteer fire company—one point per meeting. The biggest issue that surrounds the meeting category are what types of meetings qualify as a meeting for the purposes of this category. The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) has…

Read More

The next point system category is Elected or Appointed Positions. Here is the text of the statute: (iv) Elected or appointed position (see definition)—twenty-five points maximum.     (A) Completion of one year term in an elected or appointed position. If the term of office for a firefighter who has been elected or appointed to a…

Read More

Today we will look at the third Point System category in the statute – Sleep-in and Stand-by. Here is the text of the statute: (iii) Sleep-in or stand-by—twenty points maximum.      (A) Sleep-in–one point each full night.      (B) Stand-by—one point each. A stand-by is defined as line of duty activity of the…

Read More