Retirees Expected to Receive 2 Percent COLA Effective July 1, 2010
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Date Posted: January 27, 2010
Category: Retirees
Eligible retirees of the South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS) and the Police Officers Retirement System (PORS) are expected to receive a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in their benefit checks effective July 1, 2010.
State law provides that each July 1, eligible SCRS and PORS retirees will receive an automatic COLA equal to the percentage of the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) as of the previous December 31, up to an increase of 2 percent. As of December 31, 2009, the CPI-W increased by 3.4 percent from December 2008 to December 2009. If the CPI-W had been less than 2 percent, the COLA would equal the actual increase in the CPI-W.
Retired PORS members are eligible for COLAs the second July 1 after their date of retirement. Retired SCRS members who retired with 28 years of service or on or after their 60th birthday are eligible for COLAs the second July 1 after their date of retirement. However, SCRS members who retired under early retirement provisions at age 55 with 25 years of service are not eligible for COLAs until the second July 1 after they reach age 60 or the second July 1 after the date they would have attained 28 years of service credit had they not retired.
Automatic COLAs are triggered only during periods of inflation.