Who is Eligible for a COLA in 2023?

Members of seventy-six municipal (MERS) pension plans will receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2023. For a full list, click here.

To be eligible for annual COLA, members who meet age and length of retirement requiremnts must also be retirees of a plan that offers COLA and has a funding level that exceeds 80%, as determined by the actuary as of the prior year’s Actuarial Valuation. The most current Actuarial Valuations for all plans (as of 6/30/2022) are available on the ERSRI website – for MERS plans, refer to Table 7, Column 8 in the 2022 valuation for your employer’s funded ratio.

For retirees of all COLA-eligible plans that are less than 80% funded, a COLA is paid every 4 years. The next ‘4-Year COLA’ is scheduled for 2025.

In addition, current eligible beneficiaries of the Teachers’ Survivor Benefit receive the same COLA granted to members of Social Security. The increase, which begins in January 2023, is 8.7% as announced by the Social Security Administration in October 2022.

Click here to read more about 2023 COLA (including how it is calculated).