Ronald Pepin

This is my story about COLAs, suspended for over 12 years, and how it affected me.

I retired from the Department of Labor & Training in June 2008 after 32 years of service, with the

promise of a yearly cost-of-living adjustment starting after the third year of retirement.I received just one COLA In 2011. Then, COLAs were suspended. When I retired, based on the calculations, I opted for the middle amount of pension earnings so that my wife could receive half in case something happened to me.

A COLA would have allowed my family financial stability so I could wait until age 66 1/2 before collecting my Social Security benefits. But, because of the COLA suspension, I had to collect my Social Security at age 63 to help offset the loss of not receiving cost of living increases.

It costs two months of my pension to cover taxes and insurances. This means that I live on ten months of my pension earnings. My Social Security benefits make up for the shortfall.

I know that reinstating back COLAs won’t happen. However, I hope this Pension Advisory Working Group will bring about positive changes for us in the future, providing some relief to many public sector retirees like me.

Thank you for the opportunity to be heard.

Ronald Pepin

Submitted via online webform