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The earliest
origin of a retirement program for the City of Miami occurred on
May 8, 1931 with the passage of Chapter 15338 of Florida Laws, which
created the "Pension and/or Retirement Fund for members of
the Police and Fire Departments of the City of Miami."
In 1937, Chapter
18689 of Florida Laws authorized the City to independently establish
a pension fund for all City employees; this extended coverage to
include all City employees in addition to the Fire and Police Departments.
Highlights
of the Gates vs. Miami lawsuit settlement were:
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- Composition
of an independent fire and police Board of Trustees.
- Separate
and independent administration for each plan (FIPO and GESE).
- A mechanism
for cost of living allowance (COLA) funding.
- A fixed
payment schedule for addressing past under funded liabilities.
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Chapter 19112
of Florida Laws in 1939 authorized six cities (Jacksonville, Miami,
Miami Beach, Tampa, Pensacola and St. Petersburg) to levy a 1% excise
tax on fire and tornado insurance for the purpose of funding fire
fighter pension plans. Fourteen years later in 1953, Chapter 28230
of Florida Laws provided for similar funding for police pension
plans.
The "Miami
City Employees' Retirement System" was adopted by the Miami
City Commission on December 6, 1939 and became operational on January
1, 1940. Every regular and permanent employee of the City had the
right to participate in the system.
In 1976 the
Retirement System was split into the "Retirement System"
(a plan for police officers and fire fighters) and the "Retirement
Plan" (a plan for general employees).
On
September 14, 1995 the Gates settlement was amended to include
the following provisions:
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- Use
of a moving average computation for the valuation of assets.
- Extinguishing
of the remaining "unfunded liability".
- Revision
of the COLA benefit to be based on the Trust Fund's positive
earnings above the actuarial assumption.
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In 1979 a group
of employees joined to file a lawsuit against the City, known as
Gates vs. The City of Miami. It was based upon the questionable
use of tax funds that were provided under state law for exclusive
local pension fund use.
On May 23, 1985
the Gates vs. Miami lawsuit was settled. The major result was the
formal creation of two distinct and separately governed plans, the
"City of Miami Fire Fighters' and Police Officers' Retirement
Trust" (FIPO) and the City of Miami General Employees' and
Sanitation Employees' Retirement Trust" (GESE).
Recent innovative
additions to the benefits available to members are the DROP (Deferred
Retirement Option Program) as a self-directed supplemental plan
and the BACDROP.
MISSION
To administer
the retirement benefit plan for the Fire Fighters and Police Officers
of the City of Miami.
GOALS
and OBJECTIVES
- To provide
effective services to all active and retired members.
- To accumulate,
manage and disburse the retirement fund assets in accordance with
fiduciary standards, actuarial soundness and all applicable statutes,
ordinances and regulations.
- To maximize
investment returns while exercising a prudent investment policy.
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