STAR COLA approved by Board of Retirement

OCERS members who retired on or before April 1, 1981 will receive a Supplemental Targeted Adjustment for Retirees (STAR) Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) beginning with their May 1, 2010 monthly allowance. The Board of Retirement voted unanimously to approve the STAR COLA at its regular meeting on April 19, 2010.

The purpose of STAR COLA is to restore purchasing power for retirees who have lost more than 20 percent of their spending power since retirement. The STAR COLA brings those individuals back to 80 percent of purchasing power.

The projected cost to provide the STAR COLA for all eligible recipients is $2.1 million for the period April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011. The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted in support of the STAR COLA on March 31, 2010, and the Orange County Employees Association (OCEA), Children & Families Commission and LAFCO advised OCERS that they each support the continuation of STAR COLA.

Chairman Robert Griffith, who is also an OCERS retiree, discussed the importance of STAR COLA at the April 19 meeting.

"Recipients of the STAR COLA are the oldest and frailest retirees who are least able to make up income by any other source. They all retired before April 2, 1981," said Griffith, noting STAR COLA provides important relief to those OCERS retirees whose benefits have been most impacted by inflation.