Board Approves Maximum COLA for 2025

At its September meeting, the Board unanimously voted to approve a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase for eligible benefit recipients in 2025.

By statute, SERS’ COLA is based on the year-to-year change in the Consumer Price Index (June 2023 to June 2024) for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), with a floor of 0% and a cap of 2.5%.

This year’s CPI-W was 2.9%. With input from SERS’ actuary, Cavanaugh MacDonald, the Board approved the statutory maximum of 2.5%. According to Cavanaugh Macdonald, the 2.5% COLA amount will not materially impair SERS’ funded status.

The 2025 COLA takes effect on the benefit anniversary of the recipient’s effective date of retirement.

Benefit recipients whose benefit effective date is on or after April 1, 2018, must wait until the fourth anniversary of their allowance or benefit before receiving a COLA.