2023 Wyoming Statutes › Title 15 - Cities and Towns › Chapter 5 - Fire and Police Departments › Article 2 - Firemen Pensions and Death Benefits › Section 15-5-211 - Fire a Pension Plan Legislative Findings.

15-5-211. Fire A pension plan legislative findings.
(a) The legislature finds:
(i) The paid firemen's pension plan was established in 1935 and restructured in 1981. In 1981 with the restructuring of the paid firemen's pension plan, the original firemen's pension plan became known as "paid firemen plan A" or "Fire A". The legislature contributed approximately forty-six million eight hundred thousand dollars ($46,800,000.00) between 1981 and 1996 to make up the accumulated underfunding of Fire A from inception to the point of restructuring;
(ii) Statute has directed since the inception of the paid firemen's pension plan and as provided in W.S. 15-5-202 that the firemen's pension account shall be administered without liability on the part of the state beyond the amount of the fund;
(iii) Upon recommendation from the Wyoming retirement system and consulting actuaries, the legislature adopted an act ceasing contributions to Fire A as of April 1, 1997. This included the previously required contributions of eight percent (8%) of salary, employer contributions of twenty-one percent (21%) of salary and contributions of fifty percent (50%) of the fire insurance premium tax collected by the state each year;
(iv) Had employers and employees made contributions between April 1, 1997 and December 31, 2020 the estimated contributions would be worth approximately thirty-three million dollars ($33,000,000.00) as of December 31, 2020, using a seven percent (7%) annual rate of return;
(v) Upon the recommendation of the Wyoming retirement system and consulting actuaries, the legislature repeatedly increased benefits for Fire A members and retirees. Increases included an increase of the percentage of salary used to calculate benefits, the removal of a cap on benefits and the increase of benefits for surviving spouses from thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) up to one hundred percent (100%);
(vi) Despite an actuarial report dated January 1, 2002 noting a deteriorated funded position of Fire A, employee and employer contributions were not reinstituted;
(vii) The Wyoming retirement system reports that the Fire A retiree pension payroll was nine million three hundred thousand dollars ($9,300,000.00) in 2002 and is estimated to be sixteen million three hundred thousand dollars ($16,300,000.00) in 2021. This increase is primarily due to the statutory three percent (3%) annual compounded cost-of-living adjustment that has been in effect since 2004;
(viii) In 2014 a bill to improve the funded status of Fire A by reducing the cost of living provision and restarting contributions from employers and the state did not pass the legislature;
(ix) The retirement system board shifted the investments of Fire A to a fixed-income portfolio on January 1, 2021;
(x) The retirement system actuaries estimate Fire A will exhaust all assets sometime in 2026 if no changes are made;
(xi) As of January 1, 2021, there were two hundred sixty-six (266) retirees and surviving spouses eligible to receive benefits from Fire A;
(xii) The Wyoming retirement system calculator provided to the legislature estimates that if the funding for Fire A were to be solved entirely with contributions, it would require a total contribution of one hundred forty-eight million one hundred thousand dollars ($148,100,000.00) on January 1, 2022, assuming assets are reinvested in a diversified portfolio;
(xiii) The Wyoming retirement system calculator provided to the legislature estimates that if the funding for Fire A were to be solved entirely with benefit reductions, it would require elimination of all future cost-of-living adjustments and an additional benefit reduction of fifty-seven percent (57%) of all current benefits on January 1, 2022. This assumes assets are reinvested in a diversified portfolio;
(xiv) A combination of benefit reductions and additional contributions could be used to provide for the funding requirements to make Fire A actuarily solvent for the remaining life of the plan.